Optical fourier processing

An optical processing system comprising:

• a film comprising a photochromic material;
• a first radiation source to generate a polarized input beam, wherein the polarized input beam is projected onto the photochromic material film;
• a second radiation source to generate a first polarized actinic beam configured to illuminate the photochromic material film;
• a third radiation source to generate a second polarized actinic beam configured to illuminate the photochromic material film, wherein the first and second actinic beams are independently set at wavelengths and intensities to induce in the photochromic material anisotropy that varies as a function of the intensity of total illumination on the photochromic material, such that the film transmits a variably polarized image beam including a plurality of polarization components;
• a polarizing analyzer arranged in the path of the variably polarized image beam and configured to selectively block a specific set of polarization components to generate an output image beam;
• and
• a radiation detector arranged to detect the output image beam.

A method of spatial filtering of optical image data, the method comprising:

• irradiating a film comprising a photochromic material with an input beam, wherein the input beam carries an input image;
• polarizing the input beam to generate a polarized input beam;
• focusing the polarized input beam onto the photochromic film by Fourier transformation;
• illuminating the photochromic material film with a polarized actinic beam, wherein the actinic beam is set at a wavelength and intensity to induce in the photochromic material anisotropy that varies as a function of the intensity of total illumination on the photochromic material, such that the film transmits a variably polarized image beam including a plurality of polarization components;
• retrieving the variably polarized image beam from the photochromic material film by an inverse Fourier transform;
• generating an output image beam by arranging a polarizing analyzer in the path of the variably polarized image beam to selectively block a specific set of polarization components;
• and
• detecting the output image with a radiation detector.

A method of performing wavelet filtering of optical image data, the method comprising:

• irradiating a film comprising a photochromic material with an input beam, wherein the input beam carries an input image;
• polarizing the input beam to generate a polarized input beam;
• focusing the polarized input beam onto the photochromic film by Fourier transformation;
• illuminating the photochromic material film with a polarized actinic beam, wherein the actinic beam is set at a wavelength and intensity to induce in the photochromic material anisotropy that varies as a function of the intensity of total illumination on the photochromic material, such that the film transmits a variably polarized image beam including a plurality of polarization components;
• illuminating the photochromic material film with a third beam which is shaped to transmit a particular set of polarization components through the analyzer;
• retrieving the variably polarized image beam from the photochromic material film by an inverse Fourier transform;
• generating an output image beam by arranging a polarizing analyzer in the path of the variably polarized image beam to selectively block a specific set of polarization components;
• and
• detecting the output image with a radiation detector.

A method of performing logic manipulations of optical input data, the method comprising:

• irradiating a film comprising a photochromic material with a polarized input beam;
• illuminating the photochromic material film with a first polarized actinic beam configured to illuminate the photochromic material film;
• illuminating the photochromic material film with a second polarized actinic beam configured to illuminate the photochromic material film, wherein the first and second actinic beams are independently set at wavelengths and intensities to induce in the photochromic material anisotropy that varies as a function of the intensity of total illumination on the photochromic material, such that the film transmits a variably polarized image beam including a plurality of polarization components;
• generating an output image beam by arranging a polarizing analyzer in the path of the variably polarized image beam to selectively block a specific set of polarization components;
• and
• detecting the output image with a radiation detector.