The objective of the project is to develop and expand the application of nonlinear optics to image processing, optical computing, and beam control, using both theoretical and an experimental approach. In traditional nonlinear optics studies, a small number of beams are caused to couple to each other, or a single beam is self-modified, by the nonlinear dependence of the electric polarization density on the optical electric field. It has been found more recently that certain of these effects can couple very large numbers of beams or beam components, and can thereby perform such tasks as image correlation, image phase-conjugation, and image-frequency conversion in "real time:, i.e., on nanosecond or even picosecond time scales. The investigators have already introduced phase-conjugation of complex optical images by four-wave mixing, and especially photorefractive materials to enable phase-conjugation at low (milliwatt) power levels. In this work they propose to pursue experimental and theoretical studies in three areas growing out of the previous and ongoing research. These are: (1) Understanding and characterization of nonlinear optical materials, (2) Development of new nonlinear materials, and (3) Development of nonlinear image processing devices, algorithms, and architectures.
