A 160-femtosecond optical image processor based on a conjugated polymer.
Degenerate ground-state conjugated polymers exhibit large third-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities, including substantial two-photon absorption. With the use of a machine architecture suited to these material properties, ultrafast optical processors are possible. A four-wave mixing optical correlator was built with an air-stable, processable, degenerate ground-state conjugated polymer, poly(1,6-heptadiester). The continuously updatable processor correlates two 5000-pixel images in less than 160 femtoseconds, achieving peak processing rates of 3 x 10(16) operations per second.
Halvorson
C
C
Hays
A
A
Kraabel
B
B
Wu
R
R
Wudl
F
F
Heeger
A J
AJ