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Abstract

The present invention relates to a novel source array comprising a plurality of sources of optical illumination that are at once both individually coherent and mutually incoherent. A primary application of such a source array is to provide the requisite optical source beams in a novel architecture and associated apparatus for the development of highly multiplexed photonic interconnection networks and holographic optical elements with maximum optical throughput efficiency and minimum interchannel crosstalk, based on parallel incoherent/coherent holographic recording and readout principles that are described herein. In one embodiment, the source array is configured from a plurality of coherent sources of illumination; in a second embodiment, a single source of coherent illumination is expanded to illuminate a phase modulator array, within which each separate phase modulator is driven at a distinct oscillation frequency such that the set of resultant modulated beams exhibits mutual incoherence. Such incoherent/coherent source arrays are critical for providing arbitrarily weighted and independent interconnections, which in turn are of potential importance in the development of neuro-optical computers, as well as photonic interconnection networks and multiplexed holographic optical elements. In addition, the extremely difficult problem of copying the contents of a three-dimensional holographic storage device in one step is enabled by utilization of the incoherent/coherent source arrays that are the key features of the present invention.

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First Claim