We describe a scalable, tiled optical beam steering aperture based on integrated silicon photonic circuit beam steering tiles. A novel beam steering tile design, the serpentine optical phased array (SOPA), enables high fill factor tiled apertures, very low control complexity, an entirely passive aperture, large field of view, and extremely fast beam steering. The design provides low size, weight, and power, making it scalable to large-area (cm-to-wafer scale) apertures. We show experimental demonstrations of SOPA tiles steering an optical beam in two dimensions (2D) enabling a full 2D raster scan using wavelength sweep alone, and initial tiling and lidar demonstrations.
Recent progress in controlling light propagation in multimode fibers in the linear regime, opened new opportunities for multimode fiber endoscopy. However, nonlinear light propagation in multimode fibers comprises complex intermodal interactions and rich spatiotemporal dynamics. In this work, we demonstrate a wave-front shaping approach for controlling nonlinear phenomena in multimode fibers. Using a spatial light modulator at the fiber’s input and a genetic algorithm optimization, we control a highly nonlinear stimulated Raman scattering cascade and its interplay with four wave mixing via a flexible implicit control on the superposition of modes that are coupled into the fiber. We demonstrate versatile spectrum manipulations that could be used to generate a multi-wavelength, tunable source. The wavefront shaping control allows spectral shifting and modal tuning. A theoretical analysis of modal phase matching in graded index multi-mode fibers is presented and we suggest potential bio-imaging applications.
A RF spectrum analyzer with high performance and unique capabilities that traditional all-electronic spectrum analyzers
do not exhibit is demonstrated. The system is based on photonic signal processing techniques that have enabled us to
demonstrate the spectral analysis of a 1.5 GHz bandwidth with a 1.4 ms update time and a resolution bandwidth of 31
kHz. We observed a 100% probability of intercept for all signals, including short pulses, during the measurement
window. The spectrum analyzer operated over the 0.5 to 2.0 GHz range and exhibited a spur-free dynamic range of 42
dB. The potential applications of such a system are extensive and include: detection and location of transient electromagnetic
signals, spectrum monitoring for adaptive communications such as spectrum-sensing cognitive radio, and
battlefield spectrum management.
We present a novel optical quantum sensor using spectral
hole-burning for detecting signals in ultrasound-modulated
optical tomography. In this technique, we utilize the capability of sub-MHz spectral filtering afforded by a spectral hole
burning crystal to select the desired spectral component from the ultrasound-modulated diffuse light. This technique is
capable of providing a large etendue, processing a large number of speckles in parallel, tolerating speckle decorrelation,
and imaging in real-time. Experimental results are presented.
In this paper, we present a new photonic technique for producing large time delay of radio-frequency (RF)
modulated optical signals and its application in a novel true-time-delay (TTD) multiple beam-forming system
for wideband RF phased-array antennas using Fourier optics. The RF signal to be delayed is modulated onto
a broadband optical carrier in a frequency-mapped manner by an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). Due to
the phased-matched acousto-optic interaction and the moving nature of the acoustic waves in the AOTF, di.erent
frequency components of the optical carrier are only modulated and Doppler-shifted by the corresponding
frequencies of the modulating RF signal. Heterodyne detection between the modulated optical beam and a timealigned
reference beam from the same light source can recover the modulating RF signal. When a small optical
path length di.erence is introduced between the heterodyne beams, a large RF time delay magnified by the
frequency ratio between the optics and the RF will be generated, which we refer to as the sluggish-light effect.
Sluggish light has potential applications in TTD beam forming for wideband RF phased-array antennas and
proof-of-concept experiments of the sluggish-light based TTD beam forming for an emulated 2- and 4-channel
RF array will be presented in this paper.
In this paper, we present a novel approach for broadband RF photonic signal processing using a femtosecond laser and an Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter (AOTF). We demonstrate that by using spectral filtering in the AOTF, we are able to map each frequency component of the broadband RF signal onto a corresponding set of frequency comb lines of a femtosecond pulse train. The time domain interpretation of this RF to optical frequency mapping yields a femtosecond pulse shaping operation, which is in distinct contrast to the conventional double sideband amplitude modulation of a CW carrier used in RF photonic links. The interaction with a traveling acoustic wave in the AOTF leads to Doppler shift of each frequency comb line by its corresponding RF conterpart, which allows the recovery of the encoded RF signal by heterodyne detection with an unmodulated reference pulse train. As a proof of concept, we experimentally demonstrated mapping of 10 MHz bandwidth RF signals onto 65 nm FWHM optical bandwidth of a 2 GHz repetition rate femtosecond laser using a commercial AOTF and a 40 MHz bandwidth RF signal mapping using a supercontinuum source. Optical processing functions such as RF bandpass/notch filtering can be achieved in the optical domain using optical filters, thereby avoiding the limitations of RF analog filters. Down-conversion naturally occurs based on the laser repetition rate.
We propose performing ultrawideband RF spectrum analysis using spectral-hole-burning (SHB) crystals, which are crystal hosts lightly doped with rare earth ions such as Tm3+ or Er3+. Cooling SHB crystals to cryogenic temperatures suppresses phonon broadening, narrowing the ions' homogeneous linewidths to <100 kHz; local inhomogeneities in the crystal lattice shift the individual ionic resonances such that they're distributed over a bandwidth of 20 GHz or in some structurally disordered crystals to up to 200 GHz. Illuminating an SHB crystal with a beam modulated with multiple RF sidebands digs spectral holes in the crystal's absorption profile that persist for the excited state lifetime, about 10 ms. The spectral holes are a negative image of the modulated beam's spectrum. We can determine the location of these spectral holes by probing the crystal with a chirped laser and measuring the transmitted intensity. The transmitted intensity is the double-sideband spectrum of the original illumination blurred by a 100 kHz Lorentzian and mapped into a time-varying signal. Scaling the time series associated with the transmitted intensity by the instantaneous chirp rate yields the spectrum of the original illumination. Postprocessing algorithms undo distortion due to swept laser nonuniformities and ringing induced by fast chirp beams, eliminating the need for long dwell times to resolve narrow spectral features. Because the read and write processes occur simultaneously, SHB spectrum analyzers can operate with unity probability of intercept over a bandwidth limited only by the inhomogeneous linewidth. These capabilities make SHB spectrum analyzers attractive alternates to other approaches to wideband spectrum analysis.
Broadband RF imaging by spatial Fourier beam-forming suffers from beam-squint. The compensation of this frequency dependent beam-steering requires true-time-delay multiple beam-forming or frequency-channelized beam-forming, substantially increasing system complexity. Real-time imaging using a wide bandwidth antenna array with a large number of elements is inevitably corrupted by beam-squint and is well beyond the capability of current or projected digital approaches. In this paper, we introduce a novel microwave imaging technique by use of the spectral selectivity of inhomogeneously broadened absorber (IBA) materials, which have tens of GHz bandwidth and sub-MHz spectral resolution, allowing real-time, high resolution, beam-squint compensated, broadband RF imaging. Our imager uses a self-calibrated optical Fourier processor for beam-forming, which allows rapid imaging without massive parallel digitization or RF receivers, and generates a squinted broadband image. We correct for the beam squint by capturing independent images at each resolvable spectral frequency in a cryogenically-cooled IBA crystal and then using a chirped laser to sequentially read out each spectral image with a synchronously scanned zoom lens to compensate for the frequency dependent magnification of beam squint. Preliminary experimental results for a 1-D broadband microwave imager are presented.
We describe a time-integrating acousto-optic correlator (TIAOC) developed for imaging and target detection using a wideband random-noise radar system. This novel polarization interferometric in-line TIAOC uses an intensity-modulated laser diode for the random noise reference and a polarization-switching, self-collimating acoustic shear-mode gallium phosphide (GaP) acousto-optic device for traveling-wave modulation of the radar returns. The time-integrated correlation output is detected on a 1-D charge-coupled device (CCD) detector array and calibrated and demodulated in real time to produce the complex radar range profile. The complex radar reflectivity is measured in more than 150 radar range bins in parallel on the 3000 pixels of the CCD, improving target acquisition speeds and sensitivities by 150 over previous serial analog correlator approaches. The polarization interferometric detection of the correlation using the undiffracted light as the reference allows us to use the full acousto-optic device (AOD) bandwidth as the system bandwidth. Also, the experimental result shows the fully complex random-noise signal correlation and coherent demodulation without an explicit carrier, demonstrating that optically processed random-noise radars do not need a stable local oscillator.
We present an optimized design of an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) using a phased-array transducer for a spectrally-multiplexed
ultrafast pulse-shaping RF beamformer application. The momentum-space interaction geometry is used to optimize an AOTF using acoustic beam-steering techniques in combination with acoustic anisotropy in order to linearly map the applied RF frequency to the filtered output optical frequency. The appropriate crystal orientation and phased-array transducer design are determined to linearize the RF to optical frequency mapping even in the presence of optical dispersion of the birefringence. After optimizing the phased-array transducer, acoustic anisotropy, and optical anisotropic diffraction geometry, the designed AOTF will compensate for the birefringent dispersion of TeO2 to give a linear modulation of RF frequencies onto the corresponding optical frequencies. This linearized frequency mapped AOTF is required for a squint-compensated, wavelength-multiplexed, optically processed RF imager.
We present an optical approach to 1-D broadband microwave imaging. The imager uses a Fourier optical beamformer to generate a squinted broadband image which is then spectrally resolved by burning a spatial distribution (an image) of spectral signals into a spectral-hole burning material. This spatial-spectral image corresponds to the spectral content of the image at each resolveable spatial point. These narrowband images may be sequentially read out with a chirped laser, scaled to compensate for beam squint, and summed to form a broadband microwave image.
KEYWORDS: LIDAR, Crystals, Sensors, Signal detection, Holography, Modulation, Laser crystals, Signal processing, High power lasers, Pulsed laser operation
We introduce a new approach to coherent LIDAR remote sensing by utilizing a quantum-optical, parallel sensor based on spatial-spectral holography (SSH) in a cryogenically cooled inhomogeneously-broadened absorber (IBA) crystal that is used to sense the LIDAR returns and perform the front-end range-correlation signal processing. This SSH sensor increases the LIDAR system sensitivity through range-correlation gain before detection. This approach permits the use of high-power, noisy, CW lasers as ranging waveforms in LIDAR systems instead of the highly stabilized, injection seeded and amplified pulsed laser sources required by most coherent LIDAR systems. The capabilities of the IBA media for many 10s of GHz bandwidth and sub-MHz resolution, while using either a coded waveform or just a high-power, noisy laser with a broad linewidth (e.g. a random noise LIDAR) may enable a new generation of improved LIDAR sensors and processors. Preliminary experimental demonstrations of LIDAR range detection and signal processing for random noise and chirped transmitted waveforms are presented.
Spatial dragging of optical solitons is an asymmetric interaction in which a weak signal soliton propagating at a tilted angle can drag an
initially overlapping strong pump soliton with orthogonal polarization to the side, thus missing a spatial aperture at the output. A novel ultrafast all-optical wavelength converter based on (3+1)-D soliton dragging interaction between frequency shifted
solitons is demonstrated in this paper using numerical simulations. This device is not rate limited by carrier life time as previously demonstrated wavelength converters and potentially can reach
a bit rate of 2TB/sec. The proposed wavelength converter can be used in future multi-wavelength soliton communication network or multi-wavelength optical logic based computing systems.
A time-integrating acousto-optic correlator (TIAOC) is a good candidate for imaging and target detection using a wideband random noise radar system. We have developed such a correlator for
a random noise radar with a signal frequency range of 1-2 GHz. This
system has demonstrated good wideband signal correlation performance with good dynamic range and fine tuning of delays.
This paper presents experimental results demonstrating adaptive beam forming and jammer nulling for phased-array antenna applications using the Broadband Efficient Adaptive Method for True-time-delay Array Processing (BEAMTAP) algorithm. The BEAMTAP algorithm has the advantage of mapping efficiently into an opto-electronic architecture that minimizes the required number of tapped-delay lines and simultaneously allows for the signals to be processed coherently, assuming that phase stabilization has been achieved. The architecture also utilizes a unique polarization-angle, read-write multiplexing system that allows for 45 dB of total jammer suppression at the output. Successful narrowband and broadband adaptive beam forming and jammer nulling results are provided in the worst-case scenario of co-site interference where both the jamming signal's angle of incidence and spectral content overlap with that of the signal of interest.
We propose a novel, wideband spectrum analyzer based on spectral hole burning (SHB) technology. SHB crystals contain rare earth ions doped into a host lattice, and are cooled to cryogenic temperatures to allow sub-MHz hole burning linewidths. The signal spectrum is recorded in an SHB crystal by illuminating the crystal with an optical beam modulated by the RF signal of interest. The signal's spectral components excite those rare earth ions whose resonance frequencies coincide with the spectral component frequencies, engraving the RF spectrum into the crystal's absorption profile. Probing this altered absorption profile with a low power, chirped laser while measuring the transmitted intensity results in a time-domain readout of the accumulated RF signal spectrum. The resolution of the spectrum analyzer is limited only by the homogeneous linewidth of the rare earth ions (< 1 MHz when the SHB crystal is cooled to cryogenic temperatures). The spectrum analyzer bandwidth is limited by the inhomogeneous linewidth and by the electro-optic modulator bandwidth, both of which can be > 20 GHz.
We propose, analyze, and demonstrate the use of a holographic method for cohering the output of a fiber tapped-delay-line (FTDL). We perform a theoretical examination of the phase-cohering process and show experimental results for an RF spectrum analyzer based on a phase-cohered FTDL that shows 50 MHz resolution and bandwidths in excess of 2 GHz. Phase-cohering holography can operate on thousands of fibers in parallel, enabling both fiber tapped-delay-lines and the coherent fiber remoting of optically-modulated RF signals from antenna arrays.
We present a non-mechanical, dynamically programmable, all-optical image rotator, which can rotate an input image to any angle or a grid given by 360°/2n, where n is the number of stages. The image rotator uses cascaded stages in which each stage rotates the image by an angle given by half the previous stage. Each stage uses an Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) polarization switch to select between a straight through path and a deflected path with an odd number of bounces, that when rotated to an angle, operates as an image rotating prism. An FLC is used for each stage to choose the polarization and therefore whether to rotate the image or not. By switching the FLC director orientation by 45 for each stage, images can be rotated to an arbitrary angle at a speed of several KHz.
We present a proof-of-concept optical experiment that demonstrates the
ability to record squinted broadband RF images formed by a Fourier beamforming phased-array antenna and subsequent squint correction using spatial spectral holography. A cryogenically cooled inhomogeneously broadened absorber (Tm3+:YAG) acts as a spectrally selective holographic medium which records the squinted RF image, covering a wide RF bandwidth (approaching 20 GHz) with resolution of approximately 1 MHz. Subsequently, a frequency-swept laser can read out the squinted image while a magnification-compensating motorized zoom lens synchronously corrects the magnification due to beam squint. Time-integration the image on a CCD detector array produces a squint-compensated broadband RF image, while detection with a MHz bandwidth detector can produce spectral estimates for all sources recorded with this imaging system.
A generalized Fourier optics approach is employed to describe hologram recording and reconstruction in volume media. A compact expression is derived, which is suitable for the treatment of complicated optical signals propagated by arbitrary optical systems. This is in contrast to the existing literature on volume holography that is mainly focused on the derivation of high diffraction efficiency in relatively simple configurations. It is demonstrated that the traditionally accepted Bragg selectivity can be obtained as a first approximation of much more general selectivity, a generalized Bragg selectivity, that describes the deterioration of the hologram reconstruction quality as a function of the deviations from the recording configuration. As a case study, a few simple situations are analyzed in detail and an old experimental result is explained theoretically.
This paper demonstrates a space integrating optical implementation of a single-layer FIRNN. A scrolling spatial light modulator is used for representing the spatio-temporal input plane, while the weights are implemented by the adaptive grating formation in a photorefractive crystal. Differential heterodyning is used for low-noise bipolar output detection and an active stabilization technique using a lock-in amplifier and a piezo-electric actuator is adopted for long term interferometric stability. Simulations and initial experimental results for adaptive sonar broadband beamforming are presented.
This paper presents an optical system which enables a broadband RF signal to be detected and delayed by a traveling fringes detector (TFD) using an acousto-optic deflector (AOD) and a 4f imaging system. The TFD is based upon the synchronous drift of photo-generated carriers with a moving interference pattern; the moving interference pattern is generated by interfering two coherent beams of light at different frequencies. Light which is incident on the photoconductive layer of the detector will generate photocarriers with a specific drift velocity proportional to the applied bias voltage. For a fixed angle between the two beams, a resonance peak occurs when the drift velocity equals the fringe velocity of the moving interference pattern. Detection of a broadband signal, therefore, is difficult since each frequency component produces a different fringe velocity and thus has a different resonance peak associated with the detector. Broadband detection of a signal is allowed by forcing each of the detected moving interference patterns, each corresponding to a specific temporal RF frequency, to have the same velocity as the electron drift velocity. This can be accomplished by using an AOD to linearly deflect each frequency component of the RF signal at the appropriate angle in order to maintain a constant overall fringe velocity at the TFD.
We demonstrate the operation and rapid reconfiguration of a 12 X 12 Acousto-Optic Photonic Crossbar (AOPC). This AOPC can implement any desired permutation, fan-in, or fan-out interconnection between any subset out of twelve single-mode input fibers into any subset out of twelve single-mode output fibers. The system uses one large-aperture Acousto- Optic Deflector (AOD) driven by a sum-of-tones RF-waveform produced by an arbitrary waveform generator and computed from an experimentally measured lookup table, thus reducing the control complexity of the system. The design, based on the momentum-space technique, includes optical and acoustical rotation for the AOD, in order to optimize the efficiency of the desired interconnections and minimize the undesirable negative first-order acoustooptic Bragg- diffractions. A limitation of this type of systems is the unavoidable reconfiguration (dead) time introduced by the AOD itself, which can result in crosstalk between the individual input channels during that period of time. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the reconfiguration time of this AOPC, by switching between two different crossbar patterns, and then measuring the time during which the detected signal can not be individually resolved for each input channel. Coupling efficiency problems and alignment procedures are also discussed and analyzed.
We present a time and space integrating optical architecture for multi-layer finite impulse response neural networks (FIRNN). The proposed architecture is capable of forward propagation and on-line learning in the form of backward propagation. FIRNNs are first presented and analyzed. From the analysis it is observed that the implementation of FIRNNs requires the calculation of temporal convolutions, which inspire the use of time-integrating and space- integrating optical architectures. A novel device is proposed for the space-integrating architecture, based on the use of a rotating volume hologram. Initially, two single-layer architectures based on the space integrating and time integrating architectures are presented, leading to the multi-layer architecture, which uses a combination of both architectures, folding them together in such a way that all the operations of the order O(N3) are performed optically and only the less computationally intensive operations are performed electronically.
We present an adaptation of the BEAMTAP (Broadband and Efficient Adaptive Method for True-time-delay Array Processing) algorithm, previously developed for wideband phased array radars, to lower bandwidth applications such as sonar. This system utilizes the emerging time or wavelength multiplexed optical hydro-phone sensors and processes the cohered array of signals in the optical domain without conversion to the electronic domain or digitization. Modulated signals from an optical hydro-phone array are pre- processed then imaged through a photorefractive crystal where they interfere with a reference signal and its delayed replicas. The diffraction of the sonar signals off these adaptive weight gratings and detection on a linear time- delay-and-integrate charge coupled device (TDI CCD) completes the true-time-delay (TTD) beamforming process. Optical signals focused on different regions of the TDI CCD accumulate the appropriate delays necessary to synchronize and coherently sum the acoustic signals arriving at various angles on the hydro-phone array. In this paper, we present an experimental demonstration of TTD processing of low frequency signals (in the KHz sonar regime) using a TDI CCD tapped delay line. Simulations demonstrating the performance of the overall system are also presented.
In this paper we show how to use holographic photon echoes for the implementation of a variety of optical processing functions, including scanners, spectrum analyzers, time- integrating correlators, folded spectrum analyzers, ambiguity function processors, image sequence correlators, and folded image raster correlators. The combination of optical coherent transients operating as spatial-spectral holograms with acoustooptic deflectors and electrooptic modulators allows a variety of optical architectures to be implemented with substantially enhanced performance and functionality beyond that achievable by these technologies individually. We show how to utilize the basic architectures presented here as building blocks of more powerful and complex real-time optical processing systems.
We present an all-optical architecture for a fully adaptive antenna array processor capable of optimally processing the signals from very large arrays in the presence of high frequency and wideband signals. A modified version of the least mean square algorithm is employed using the BEAMTAP (Broadband and Efficient Adaptive Method for True-time-delay Array Processing) architecture. A dynamic photorefractive volume hologram is used for the adaptive weights and two cohered fiber arrays are used as tapped-delay-lines at the output and feedback paths, allowing for the processing of signals at bandwidths exceeding 10 GHz. The optical cohering of the fiber arrays is discussed and simulations are shown which describe the performance of the proposed architecture in the presence of broadband signals and multiple broadband jammers.
We present the analytical description of a photorefractive phased array beamforming system using the BEAMTAP (Broadband and Efficient Adaptive Method for True-Time-Delay Array Processing) algorithm for a large N-element array that requires only 2 tapped delay lines (TDLs) instead of the conventional N TDLs. Simulation results indicate that the processor is able to adapt to a broadband signal of interest at a specific angle of arrival. We show that the system produces a coherent sum of the desired signals from the phased array, with the corresponding time delays appropriately compensated for in an adaptive fashion without prior knowledge of the angle-of-arrival.
An efficient optical architecture for implementing a time delay optical neural network utilizing acoustooptic devices, scrolling CCD detector arrays, and photorefractive weight storage is presented.
We present a novel and efficient approach to true-time-delay (TTD) beamforming for large adaptive phased arrays with N elements, for application in radar, sonar, and communication. This broadband and efficient adaptive method for time-delay array processing algorithm decreases the number of tapped delay lines required for N-element arrays form N to only 2, producing an enormous savings in optical hardware, especially for large arrays. This new adaptive system provides the full NM degrees of freedom of a conventional N element time delay beamformer with M taps, each, enabling it to fully and optimally adapt to an arbitrary complex spatio-temporal signal environment that can contain broadband signals, noise, and narrowband and broadband jammers, all of which can arrive from arbitrary angles onto an arbitrarily shaped array. The photonic implementation of this algorithm uses index gratings produce in the volume of photorefractive crystals as the adaptive weights in a TTD beamforming network, 1 or 2 acousto-optic devices for signal injection, and 1 or 2 time-delay-and- integrate detectors for signal extraction. This approach achieves significant reduction in hardware complexity when compared to systems employing discrete RF hardware for the weights or when compared to alternative optical systems that typically use N channel acousto-optic deflectors.
A high bandwidth, large degree-of-freedom photorefractive phased-array antenna beam-forming processor which uses 3D dynamic volume holograms in photorefractive crystals to time integrate the adaptive weights to perform beam steering and jammer-cancellation signal-processing tasks is described. The processor calculates the angle-of-arrival of a desired signal of interest and steers the antenna pattern in the direction of this desired signal by forming a dynamic holographic grating proportional to the correlation between the incoming signal of interest from the antenna array and the temporal waveform of the desired signal. Experimental results of main-beam formation and measured array-functions are presented in holographic index grating and the resulting processor output.
We have configured an adaptive multi-layer optical classifier as a real-time radar target recognition system to recognize isolated aircraft targets from training profiles with varying orientation and/or range from the radar. The resulting system demonstrates the successful application of a real-time adaptive optical computing system to a challenging temporal signal processing problem with time- bandwidth product requirements too demanding for alternative approaches. In this paper we describe the multi-layer classifier in detail and present classification results of using the optical system to learn form example time- frequency representations of aircraft radar range profiles.
We present on the use of coherent optical beam combining and signal processing in a fiber-optic phased-array-antenna systems. Mutually coherent links lose phase registration after the signals propagate through the fiber path lengths subject to thermal and stress-induced variations. These path length changes can be compensated with phase corrections to the optical carrier in tan AM or PM modulated signal. In a true time delay fiber optical feed subsystem, the phase corrected outputs can be coherently combined to allow a lens to collect almost all the main beam energy into a single mode output, leading to substantially improved noise figure and dynamic range.
Angular multiplexed holograms in saturable organic media are theoretically investigated. An exposure schedule which produces uniform diffraction efficiency for multiplexed holograms is presented showing that the scheduling behavior changes dramatically when the light intensity changes. Unlike photorefractive materials, the resulting storage capacity depends on the light intensity and exposure time.
A new class of acousto-optic device that simultaneously achieves a wide angular aperture, broad bandwidth, and high diffraction efficiency is presented. Parallel tangents and beam steering are used simultaneously, which enhances the product of acceptance angle, bandwidth, and diffraction efficiency to be larger than that of isotropic acousto-optic devices by more than one order of magnitude and to be larger than that of tangentially matched acousto-optic devices by more than four times. A wide-angular-aperture acousto-optic device with a center frequency of 150 MHz and operating at 514.5 nm was optimally designed, fabricated, and its performance measured. The consistency between experiment and theory is excellent. This device can also be used as a high speed and high efficiency modulator without any change in design. This was verified experimentally and risetime of 11.7 ns was obtained. Thus, this device can be optimally used as both a wide-angular-aperture Bragg cell/deflector and a high speed modulator.
A photorefractive crystal can be used as a three-dimensionally parallel array of multipliers. In writing the photorefractive gratings, the crystal performs the operation of multiplying the inputs and integrating the resulting products. In readout the photorefractive crystal multiplies the inputs with the stored gratings. The three dimensional array of multipliers is only accessible from the two-dimensional faces. This restricts us to using the photorefractive crystal for outer- products in writing to the full three dimensions of parallelism and inner products in reading out the three dimensions, when we are using a single wavelength system. We have explored issues in using the full three dimensions of parallelism in the real time volume holograph for signal processing applications. These issues are illustrated with our successful implementation of a high-bandwidth large phased-array radar processing system. This example system leads to a new algorithm for processing phased-array-radar data, which has a great advantage in hardware complexity over the classic Widrow algorithm and leads to a significant hardware savings for true-time-delay phased-array-radar control systems.
A new design for a wide angular aperture Lithium Niobate acousto-optic Bragg cell is proposed. Parallel tangents, beam steering, and an acousto-optic interaction in a rotated 60 degree(s)-YZ plane are used simultaneously, which enhances the product of acceptance angle, bandwidth, and diffraction efficiency to be larger than that of isotropic acousto-optic Bragg cells by more than one order of magnitude. The analysis and optimum design procedure for acoustic beam steering in birefringent acousto-optic diffraction with the parallel tangents condition fulfilled is established and is essential for obtaining the maximum value of the above mentioned product. The acousto-optic interaction in the rotated YZ plane is analyzed and is important to obtain high diffraction efficiency for most cases where the parallel tangents condition is used. The optimal design of a wide angular aperture Lithium Niobate device working at 514.5 nm and with a center frequency of 150 MHz is carried out and is being fabricated.
We are developing a class of optical phased-array-radar processors which use the large number of degrees-of-freedom available in 3D photorefractive volume holograms to time integrate the adaptive weights to perform beam-steering and jammer-cancellation signal-processing tasks for very large phased-array antennas. We have experimentally demonstrated independently the two primary subsystems of the beam-steering and jammer-nulling phased-array radar processor, the beam-forming subsystem and the jammer-nulling subsystem, as well as simultaneous main beam formation and jammer suppression in the combined processor. The beam-steering subsystem calculates the angle of arrival of a desired signal of interest and steers the antenna pattern in the direction of this desired signal by forming a dynamic holographic grating proportional to the correlation between the incoming signal of interest from the antenna array and the temporal waveform of the desired signal. This grating is formed by repetitively applying the temporal waveform of the desired signal to a single acousto-optic Bragg cell and allowing the diffracted component from the Bragg cell to interfere with an optical mapping of the received phased-array antenna signal at a photorefractive crystal. The diffracted component from this grating is the antenna output modified by an array function pointed towards the desired signal of interest. This beam-steering task is performed with the only a priori information being that of the knowledge of a temporal waveform that correlates well with the desired signal and that the delay of the desired signal remains within the time aperture of the Bragg cell. The jammer-nulling subsystem computes the angles-of- arrival of multiple interfering narrowband radar jammers and adaptively steers nulls in the antenna pattern in order to extinguish the jammers by implementing a modified LMS algorithm in the optical domain. This task is performed in a second photorefractive crystal where holographic gratings are formed which are proportional to the correlation between the unprocessed antenna output and a delayed version of the formed main beam. The diffracted components from these gratings are subtracted from the formed main-beam signal producing a processor output with reduced jammer content.
The utilization of three dimensions of parallelism in photorefractive data processors is extended to parallel three- dimensional readout for the two radar scenarios of radar doppler and ranging processing, and 3D synthetic aperture radar. These are scenarios in which the data processing has full parallelism in all of three dimensions, making the volume holographic approach attractive. The result of this processing gives us a surface with the third dimension coded with the wavelength and the value represented by the intensity so that the three dimensions of data may be read out in parallel with the use of a three-color CCD.
We derive, and experimentally verify the dynamic and steady state behavior of a high- bandwidth, large degree-of-freedom adaptive phased-array-radar optical processor. The large number of adaptive weights necessary for processing in a complex radar signal environment with large arrays are computed in the form of dynamic three-dimensional volume holograms in a photorefractive crystal. The processor computes the angles-of-arrival of multiple interfering narrowband radar jammers and adaptively steers nulls in the antenna pattern in order to extinguish the jammers. The theoretical model developed provides analytical expressions relating system parameters such as feedback gain and phase to suppression depth and convergence rates for multiple narrowband jammers of arbitrary spatial profile. We have obtained experimental verification of the system behavior showing excellent agreement with the theoretical model and experimental jammer suppression as high as -35 dB.
Radially nonlinear neurons are introduced, and back propagation learning for multilayer networks of these simple hidden units is derived and simulated. The nonlinear transformation performed by a hidden layer of radial units can be represented as a simple multiplication of the summed net input to each neuron by a single value which is only dependent on the total input to the hidden layer. This allows a simple optical implementation, in which a single modulator/detector is able to act as an entire hidden layer by multiplexing the neuron net inputs and processed outputs.
The probability of absorbing a photon by a highly anisotropic dye molecule depends on the orientation of its principal absorption oscillator axis with respect to the polarization direction of the acting light. This will result in more molecules whose absorption axes are parallel to the polarization direction undergoing photoisomerization than the molecules which have other absorption axis orientations. Saturation occurs when all of the molecules aligned in a particular orientation are isomerized so further photoexcitation cannot occur. In this case saturation becomes direction dependent and occurs first in the direction aligned with the incident polarization. We investigate this anisotropic saturation behavior and present a theoretical model which incorporates intensity saturation for describing diffraction from dynamic photoanisotropic organic materials. Numerical simulations of diffraction versus intensity and polarization are provided and compared with the experimental results.
We describe three real-time optical processing systems, for imaging radar, that form the array phase function and produce the radar image from the incoming signals. The first is an implementation of the Steinberg algorithm where we have modified the data format by frequency multiplexing the range information to allow for the data from all range bins to be present simultaneously. The second implementation uses this same input format, but provides hysteresis on the point scatterer used to calibrate the array. This allows for moving radar arrays where the point used to calibrate the array may be time varying. Finally we describe a self oscillating phase conjugate resonator, with a coherent optical to RF converter inside the cavity. This is a hybrid optical-microwave oscillator that adapts to the incoming signal.
One of the most successful optical signal processing applications has been optical architectures for converting synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data into images of the radar reflectivity of the ground. Pattern recognition using optical correlator technology has also been extremely successful, and generalized multiple filter techniques have allowed the implementation of invariant target recognition systems. A simple non-linearity in the form of an optically addressed spatial light modulator to remove random phase terms has enabled the cascading of these two architectures. Experimental verification of this cascaded non-linear optical processor using SAR data from the Shuttle Imaging Radar-A mission is presented. SAR images are formed and used as the input to an optical matched-spatial-filter correlator that successfully recognized ground features.
We describe an acousto-optic interaction geometry in a uniaxial crystal which uses acoustic beam steering to couple incident and diffracted optical beams with parallel group velocities. The device uses tangential acoustic beam steering to provide large RF bandwidths at high efficiency. As with the acoustooptic tunable filter, the choice of parallel optic group velocities provides for a large input angular aperture, useful in multiplicative optical processing architectures. The parallel optical group velocities and beam steering geometry allow use of the Bragg cell with optical beams propagating in close proximity to the transducer, eliminating the dead time which is crucial in correlation cancelation feedback optical processors. The wide angular aperture allows this same interaction geometry to be used for high-efficiency wide- band acoustooptic modulators as well.
In this paper we present a new approach to incoherent-to-coherent optical conversion based on a real-time five-wave mixing technique in photoanisotropic organic film. A uniform grating is holographically written in the sample, and then locally erased by an incident white light image. Subsequent coherent diffraction of the spatially modulated grating imposes the inverse of the incoherent image onto the reading laser beam, allowing subsequent coherent optical processing. A theoretical analysis of the holographic recording and erasing mechanism in these photoanisotropic materials is presented, and the saturation is shown to be responsible for the grating intermodulation that produce the incoherent-to-coherent conversion. Experimental results of white light images converted to inverted coherent images in real-time are presented, and the resolution is shown to exceed 28 lp/mm.
A new theory is presented that describes the writing and readout of polarization volume holograms in dynamic photoanisotropic organic materials (DPOMs). Based on the coupled mode theory, the stationary coupled differential equations, which incorporate self diffraction, of two recording beams are derived in the slowly varying amplitude approximation. From these equations, the intensity and phase of the recording beams at steady state can be studied so that the final recorded polarization hologram can be described. The analytic solutions are presented for orthogonal linear and orthogonal circular recording geometries. Under the assumption of a weak probe beam, the readout equations are derived and the diffraction efficiency of polarization volume holograms is analytically solved. Numerical simulation results are provided and compared with the analytic solutions.
KEYWORDS: Signal processing, Radar, Crystals, Sensors, Signal detection, Phased arrays, Radar signal processing, Bragg cells, Wavefronts, Optical signal processing
We describe a photorefractive phased array radar processor which directs its look angle to the signal of interest and puts nulls in the array function at the locations of jammers. We derive the array null depth using a simple model of the photorefractive response which includes photorefractive erasure. We analyze the response time of the system, showing that it is independent of the photorefractive time constant. Finally we analyze the response of the system to multiple simultaneous jammers, and to irregular wave fronts establishing that the array response organizes itself to conform to non-planar incident waves. This last property allows the system to be used in complex radar environments and on large irregular nonrigid radar arrays.
An unconstrained, adaptive, null-steering phased-array optical processor that utilizes a photorefractive crystal to time-integrate the adaptive weights, and null out correlated jammers is described. A passive processor is presented, where it is assumed that it is only known a priori that the signal is broad-band and the jammers are narrow-band. The passive processor computes the angle(s) of arrival of the jammers and extinguishes them. Also presented is an active processor in which the temporal waveform of the desired signal is known, but the look direction is not. The processor computes the angle(s) of arrival of the desired signal and steers the array to look in that direction while nulling any narrow-band jammers. These are two embodiments of a class of processors which use the angular selectivity of volume holograms to form the nulls and look directions in an adaptive phased array radar antenna pattern
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