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A new fast binary multiplication scheme based on a nonholographic optical content-addressable memory (CAM) is presented. By using a sign/logarithm number (SLN) system, the multiplication operation is performed through a binary logarithmic addition. A three-stage CAM-based multiplication scheme is proposed in which the first CAM converts input binary numbers to SLN’s, the second CAM performs a fixed-point binary addition, and the third CAM converts this SLN result back to the binary number system. The design and experimental demonstration of a 7-bit nonholographic optoelectronic CAM-based multiplier are presented.

Using a novel nonholographic optoelectronic content-addressable memory in a free-space angular multiplexing geometry, a single-optical-stage compact parallel optical modified-signed-digit arithmetic processing architecture is proposed. Some spatial light modulator based experimental results are also presented.

A new optical parallel arithmetic processing scheme using a nonholographic optoelectronic content-addressable memory (CAM) is discussed. The design of a four-bit CAM-based optical carry look-ahead adder (CLA) is presented. Compared with existing optoelectronic binary addition approaches, this nonholographic CAM scheme offers a number of practical advantages, such as faster processing speed and ease of optical implementation and alignment. For the addition of numbers longer than four bits, by incorporating the previous stages' carry, a number of four-bit CLA's can be cascaded. Experimental results are also presented.

A new method to realize a medium-scale, free-space optical programmable logic array is proposed. By using either a two-dimensional optical spatial light modulator or an array of one-dimensional spatial light modulators inside a lens-based multiple-beam-path cavity, an array of optical multiple-variable logic product terms is generated. This device, together with a programmable multiple-variable OR matrix, can be used to implement any Boolean combinatorial logic operations. For an optical binary combinatorial logic computation, the proposed method efficiently uses three-dimensional space and optical elements. Preliminary experimental results obtained using an inexpensive liquid-crystal television are included.