Adaptive optical processing system with optical associative memory

An architecture for a novel adaptive optical processing system using optical associative memory with learning capability is proposed. The optical system consists of an optical preprocessor for feature extraction and optical associative memory. The feature-extraction ability can give excellent processing capability to the optical associative memory. In order to demonstrate this system, an optical Fourier transform is used as the preprocessor, and the system can achieve shift invariance. An all-optical configuration of the system is proposed, and the experimental results applied to handwritten-character recognition by using an hybrid opto-electronic system are shown and discussed.