Joint transform correlator that uses wavelet transforms.

A joint transform correlation system based on wavelet transforms is introduced. The selection of wavelets and the optical wavelet transform of images enables this optical correlator to identify the specific features and distinguish similar characters. Preliminary experimental results are given.

Molecular computing for edge-enhanced laser imaging.

In order to illustrate the self-assembly capability, we consider a laser imaging experiment on a wet film that is made of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) molecules suspended in a diffusion-limited viscous medium. BR wet film is similar to a wet photograph film but having a finer resolution and adaptive pixel locations due to laser-induced thermal diffusion. The synergism between thermal diffusion of BR molecules (induced externally by a write-laser) and molecular photochromism (generated internally by a read-laser) is exploited naturally for edge-enhanced image applications.

Detection of multipath effect using a self-pumped optical phase-conjugate filter.

A new optical Fourier domain filtering scheme that combines the conventional optical space-invariant linear filtering with a self-pumped nonlinear-optical phase-conjugation technique is proposed. The new method is used for a real-time detection and channel evaluation of the multipath information needed in radar, sonar, and communication signal-processing applications. Preliminary experimental demonstrations are included.