Optical BEAMTAP beam-forming and jammer-nulling system for broadband phased-array antennas

Spatial-spectral holographic real-time correlative optical processor with >100 Gb/s throughput

The demonstration of an all-optical, ultra-high-speed, time-domain signal correlator based on spatial-spectral holographic (SSH) technology is described. The fully programmable signal correlator demonstration operates asynchronously and continuously on signals with up to 32 GHz of bandwidth and correlative filter length exceeding a time-bandwidth product of 10⁴, for the equivalent of teraflop-scale processing. Experimental demonstrations are presented that show both digital and analog correlation capability using phase-shift keyed modulation formats to search plain text ASCII data sources for arbitrary phrases at continuous line rate throughputs up to 200 Gbps with minimal latency. These high-bandwidth demonstrations were enabled by improvements in the photonic supporting components and cryogenic SSH for RF and microwave signal processing methods. Potential application of the SSH real-time correlator for high-bandwidth analog or multi-level format signals is discussed.

Multidimensional spatial-spectral holographic interpretation of NMR photography

A spectral holographic interpretation arises naturally in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) photography from either the intrinsic chemical shift anisotropy of the spin system or the field inhomogeneity due to the applied spatial encoding gradients. We can thus think of NMR photography as arising from a "diffraction" off a spatial-spectral holographic grating. The spatial holographic component arises from a high dielectric constant (>50) of the NMR medium at high field strength (>4 T) when the excitation wavelength is commensurate with the size of the NMR sample; otherwise, it is a volume spectral holographic grating. In this paper, the NMR localized spectroscopy (imaging) equation is derived from the principles of spatial-spectral holography. Holographic properties of storage and programmable time delay and time reversal are shown to follow naturally from this viewpoint and are experimentally demonstrated in an inhomogeneously broadened NMR sample. These ideas are shown to be extendable to complex signal processing functions such as recognition, correlations, and triple products.

Holographic method of cohering fiber tapped delay lines

We propose, analyze, and demonstrate the use of a holographic method for cohering the output of a fiber tapped delay line (FTDL) that enables the use of fiber-remote optical modulators in coherent optical processing systems. We perform a theoretical examination of the phase-cohering process and show experimental results for a radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzer that uses a lens to spatially Fourier transform the output of a holographically phase-cohered FTDL providing 50 MHz resolution and bandwidths approaching 3 GHz. Substantial improvements in bandwidth should be achievable with better fiber length-trimming accuracy and improvements in resolution can be obtained with longer fiber delay lines. We also analyze and demonstrate the use of a parallel holographic technique that compensates for polarization state scrambling induced by propagation through an array of single-mode fibers. Both the phase-cohering holography and the polarization fluctuation compensation can operate on hundreds of fibers in parallel, enabling both coherent optical signal processing with FTDLs and coherent fiber remoting of optically modulated RF signals from antenna arrays.

Optoelectronic implementation of a 256-channel sonar adaptive-array processor

We present an optoelectronic implementation of an adaptive-array processor that is capable of performing beam forming and jammer nulling in signals of wide fractional bandwidth that are detected by an array of arbitrary topology. The optical system makes use of a two-dimensional scrolling spatial light modulator to represent an array of input signals in 256 tapped delay lines, two acousto-optic modulators for modulating the feedback error signal, and a photorefractive crystal for representing the adaptive weights as holographic gratings. Gradient-descent learning is used to dynamically adapt the holographic weights to optimally form multiple beams and to null out multiple interference sources, either in the near field or in the far field. Space-integration followed by differential heterodyne detection is used for generating the system's output. The processor is analyzed to show the effects of exponential weight decay on the optimum solution and on the convergence conditions. Several experimental results are presented that validate the system's capacity for broadband beam forming and jammer nulling for linear and circular arrays.

Spatio-temporal operator formalism for holographic recording and diffraction in a photorefractive-based true-time-delay phased-array processor

We present a spatio-temporal operator formalism and beam propagation simulations that describe the broadband efficient adaptive method for a true-time-delay array processing (BEAMTAP) algorithm for an optical beamformer by use of a photorefractive crystal. The optical system consists of a tapped-delay line implemented with an acoustooptic Bragg cell, an accumulating scrolling time-delay detector achieved with a traveling-fringes detector, and a photorefractive crystal to store the adaptive spatio-temporal weights as volume holographic gratings. In this analysis, linear shift-invariant integral operators are used to describe the propagation, interference, grating accumulation, and volume holographic diffraction of the spatio-temporally modulated optical fields in the system to compute the adaptive array processing operation. In addition, it is shown that the random fluctuation in time and phase delays of the optically modulated and transmitted array signals produced by fiber perturbations (temperature fluctuations, vibrations, or bending) are dynamically compensated for through the process of holographic wavefront reconstruction as a byproduct of the adaptive beam-forming and jammer-excision operation. The complexity of the cascaded spatial-temporal integrals describing the holographic formation, and subsequent readout processes, is shown to collapse to a simple imaging condition through standard operator manipulation. We also present spatio-temporal beam propagation simulation results as an illustrative demonstration of our analysis and the operation of a BEAMTAP beamformer.

Generalized Bragg selectivity in volume holography

The diffraction efficiency of holographically recorded volume gratings was extensively studied, and it can be accurately predicted as long as the recording wave fronts are simple. The derivation of the diffraction efficiency when complicated wavefronts or images are involved is much more tedious and less explored. In this work we derive operator expressions that can be used to analyze these processes regardless of the shape of the wavefront and the nature of the optical systems through which they propagate. The compact expressions derived are directly applicable to the analysis of volume holographic processes, and the deterioration of the holographic reconstruction quality is derived as a function of the deviations from the recording parameters. The generalized results obtained reduce to the conventional Bragg effect for plane wave recording and reconstruction. Previously unexplored phenomena are discussed and demonstrated through some simple, and practically useful paradigms, including hologram recording and reconstruction in the Fresnel, Fourier transform, and image plane regions, as well as recording with plane and spherical waves. Some prior experimental results are also interpreted mathematically. In subsequent publications the analysis will be explored further to facilitate its application to more complicated architectures.

Optical finite impulse response neural networks

The finite impulse response neural network is described in detail. Different algorithms capable of temporal back-propagation are considered, including a novel modification to the conventional algorithm, called the delayed-feedback back-propagation algorithm. We present and analyze different optoelectronic processors making use of adaptive volume holograms and three-dimensional optical processing. Two single-layer architectures are presented: the input delay plane architecture and the output delay plane architecture. By combining them it is possible to implement both forward and backward propagation in two multi-layer architectures: the first making use of the conventional temporal back-propagation and the second making use of delayed-feedback back-propagation.