Field-programmable smart-pixel arrays: design, VLSI implementation, and applications

A smart-pixel array is a two-dimensional array of optoelectronic devices that combine optical inputs and outputs with electronic processing circuitry. A field-programmable smart-pixel array (FP-SPA) is a smart-pixel array capable of having its electronic functionality dynamically programmed in the field. Such devices could be used in a diverse range of applications, including optical switching, optical digital signal processing, and optical image processing. We describe the design, VLSI implementation, and applications of a first-generation FP-SPA implemented with the 0.8-microm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-self-electro-optic effect device technology made available through the Lucent Technologies-Advanced Research Projects Agency Cooperative (Lucent/ARPA/COOP) program. We report spice simulations and experimental results of two sample applications: In the first application, we configure this FP-SPA as an array of free-space optical binary switches that can be used in optical multistage networks. In the second, we configure the device as an optoelectronic transceiver for a dynamically reconfigurable free-space intelligent optical backplane called the hyperplane. We also describe the testing setup and the electrical and the optical tests that demonstrate the correct functionality of the fabricated device. Such devices have the potential to reduce significantly the need for custom design and fabrication of application-specific optoelectronic devices in the same manner that field-programmable gate arrays have largely eliminated the need for custom design and fabrication of application-specific gate arrays, except in the most demanding applications.     

Parallel modified signed-digit arithmetic using an optoelectronic shared content-addressable-memory processor

Addition is the most primitive arithmetic operation in digital computation. Other arithmetic operations such as subtraction, multiplication, and division can all be performed by addition together with some logic operations. With the binary number system, addition speed is inevitably limited by the carry-propagation schemes. On the other hand, carry-free addition is possible when the modified signed-digit (MSD) number representation is used. We propose a novel optoelectronic scheme to handle the parallel MSD addition and subtraction operations. An optoelectronic shared content-addressable memroy is introduced. The shared content-addressable memory uses free-space optical processing to handle the large amount of parallel memory access operations and uses electronics to postprocess and derive logic decisions. We analyze the accuracy that the required optical hardware can deliver by using a statistical cross-talk-rate model that we propose. We also evaluate other important device and system performanceparameters, such as the memory capacity or the maximum number of parallel bits the adder can handle in terms of a given cross-talk rate at a certain repetition rate, the corresponding diffraction-limited memory density, and the system's power efficiency. To confirm the underlining operational principles of the proposed optoelectronic shared content-addressable-memory MSD adder, we design and perform initial experiments for handling 8-bit MSD number addition and subtraction and present the results.     

Chatoyant: a computer-aided- design tool for free-space optoelectronic systems

Chatoyant is a tool for the simulation and the analysis of heterogeneous free-space optoelectronic architectures. It is capable of modeling digital and analog electronic and optical signal propagation with mechanical tolerancing at the system level. We present models for a variety of optoelectronic devices and results that demonstrate the system's ability to predict the effects of various component parameters, such as detector geometry, and system parameters, such as alignment tolerances, on system-performance measures, such as the bit-error rate.     

Optoelectronic artificial synapses based on copper (II) phthalocyanine with modulated neuroplasticity

Optoelectronic synapses have been attracting significant attention due to their important role in visual information processing. In this work, we fabricate an all-organic optoelectronic synaptic device with a double heterojunction structure of PEDOT:PSS/poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE))/copper (II) phthalocyanine (CuPc) by a simple preparation process. The introduction of a dielectric P(VDF-TrFE) layer between PEDOT:PSS and CuPc layers benefits the trapping of charge carriers and slows down the electron-hole recombination rate. This two-terminal optoelectronic device is successfully applied to simulate synaptic functions of biological synapses by using optical pulses of 660 nm, including paired-pulse facilitation, spike-duration dependent plasticity, spike-rate dependent plasticity, spike-number dependent plasticity, and learning-experience behavior. Furthermore, the key characteristics of a nociceptor and the optical logic function of the “AND” and “OR” operations are also emulated. This work illustrates the potential of such device for constructing neuromorphic computing systems at the physical level.

     

Digital Fourier optics

Analog Fourier optical processing systems can perform important classes of signal processing operations in parallel, but suffer from limited accuracy. Digital-optical equivalents of such systems could be built that share many features of the analog systems while allowing greater accuracy. We show that the digital equivalent of any system consisting of an arbitrary number of lenses, niters, spatial light modulators, and sections of free space can be constructed. There are many possible applications for such systems as well as many alternative technologies for constructing them; this paper stresses the potential of free-space interconnected active-device-plane-based optoelectronic architectures as a digital signal processing environment. Implementation of the active-device planes through hybridization of optoelectronic components with silicon electronics should allow the realization of systems whose performance exceeds that of purely electronic systems.     

Field-programmable logic devices with optical input-output

A field-programmable logic device (FPLD) with optical I/O is described. FPLD's with optical I/O can have their functionality specified in the field by means of downloading a control-bit stream and can be used in a wide range of applications, such as optical signal processing, optical image processing, and optical interconnects. Our device implements six state-of-the-art dynamically programmable logic arrays (PLA's) on a 2 mm x 2 mm die. The devices were fabricated through the Lucent Technologies-Advanced Research Projects Agency-Consortium for Optical and Optoelectronic Technologies in Computing (Lucent/ARPA/COOP) workshop by use of 0.5-mum complementary metal-oxide semiconductor-self-electro-optic device technology and were delivered in 1998. All devices are fully functional: The electronic data paths have been verified at 200 MHz, and optical tests are pending. The device has been programmed to implement a two-stage optical switching network with six 4 x 4 crossbar switches, which can realize more than 190 x 10(6) unique programmable input-output permutations. The same device scaled to a 2 cm x 2 cm substrate could support as many as 4000 optical I/O and 1 Tbit/s of optical I/O bandwidth and offer fully programmable digital functionality with approximately 110,000 programmable logic gates. The proposed optoelectronic FPLD is also ideally suited to realizing dense, statically reconfigurable crossbar switches. We describe an attractive application area for such devices: a rearrangeable three-stage optical switch for a wide-area-network backbone, switching 1000 traffic streams at the OC-48 data rate and supporting several terabits of traffic.     

Impact of gate fan-in and fan-out limits on optoelectronic digital circuits

The impact of gate fan-in and fan-out limits on digital circuit delay is discussed with a set of benchmark circuits. This research presents the advantages of exploiting the ability of optoelectronic gates to perform both logic operations and optical interconnections with systematic optimization. It is possible for gate-level optical interconnected optoelectronic circuits to compete with their pure silicon counterparts in terms of the combinational circuit delay and system clock rate.     

Optoelectronic and nonlinear optical processes in low dimensional semiconductors

Spatial confinement of quantum excitations on their characteristic wavelength scale in low dimensional materials offers unique possibilities to engineer the electronic structure and thereby control their physical properties by way of simple manipulation of geometrical parameters. This has led to an overwhelming interest in quasi-zero dimensional semiconductors or quantum dots as tunable materials for multitude of exciting applications in optoelectronic and nonlinear optical devices and quantum information processing. Large nonlinear optical response and high luminescence quantum yield expected in these systems is a consequence of huge enhancement of transition probabilities ensuing from quantum confinement. High quantum efficiency of photoluminescence, however, is not usually realized in the case of bare semiconductor nanoparticles owing to the presence of surface states. In this talk, I will focus on the role of quantum confinement and surface states in ascertaining nonlinear optical and optoelectronic properties of II–VI semiconductor quantum dots and their nanocomposites. I will also discuss the influence of nonlinear optical processes on their optoelectronic characteristics.     

Digital optical computing with magneto-optic spatial light modulators: a new and efficient multiplication algorithm

Digital optical computing executed on arrays of binary data can offer parallel processing and multivalued output, which permits more flexibility in algorithm development. The hardware used consists of two computer-controlled magneto-optic spatial-light-modulator arrays in conjunction with a CCD detector array as the computational hardware. Algorithms for binary-processing tasks are presented. We used magneto-optic spatial light modulators for parallel processing in a way that exploits multivalued output. Also, in carrying this evaluation out, we developed a new and efficient multiplication algorithm. Multiplication is an important operation in many digital systems, and the design of fast multipliers is of great interest to computer scientists and engineers. The speed of this computing system is evaluated.     

Optoelectronic parallel-matching architecture: architecture description, performance estimation, and prototype demonstration

We propose an optoelectronic parallel-matching architecture (PMA) that provides powerful processing capabilities in global processing compared with conventional parallel-computing architectures. The PMA is composed of a global processor called a parallel-matching (PM) module and multiple processing elements (PE's). The PM module is implemented by a large-fan-out free-space optical interconnection and a PM smart-pixel array (PM-SPA). In the proposed architecture, by means of the PM module each PE can monitor the other PE's by use of several kinds of global data matching as well as interprocessor communication. Theoretical evaluation of the performance shows that the proposed PMA provides tremendous improvement in global processing. A prototype demonstrator of the PM module is constructed on the basis of state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices and a diffractive optical element. The prototype is assumed for use in a multiple-processor system composed of 4 x 4 PE's that are completely connected through bit-serial optical communication channels. The PM-SPA is emulated by a complex programmable device and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor photodetector array. On the prototype demonstrator the fundamental operations of the PM module were verified at 15 MHz.     

Analysis and evaluations of logical instructions called in parallel digital optical operations based on optical array logic

The authors have analysed and evaluated a two-dimensional instruction set of parallel operation based on optical array logic (OAL), which is a digital optical computing paradigm, to clarify efficient composition of an optical computing system based on OAL. To evaluate parallel operation based on OAL, the author have introduced new indices and evaluated a logical instruction set of various parallel operations with the indices, so that a guideline for composing a simple and efficient OAL computing system is clarified. Also, the authors have proposed the reduced operation kernel set correlation technique to perform parallel operations more efficiently by a simple OAL computing system. It has been clarified that the technique can reduce the required hardware necessary for an OAL computing system for efficient general-purpose processing.     

Design and demonstration of a high-speed, multichannel, optical-sampling oscilloscope

Free-space digital optical systems have demonstrated the capability to provide thousands of optical connections between optoelectronic chips. This dense concentration of channels creates substantial challenges in monitoring individual connections for diagnostic purposes without compromising performance. Prom the concept of stroboscopic techniques, we have designed and constructed a multichannel optical diagnostic tool that operates analogously to an electronic-sampling oscilloscope. The tool is economically constructed by the use of commercially available video cameras and video-enhanced personal computers. An integrated software application operates the tool and displays multiple-channel waveforms. We demonstrate the oscilloscope-sampling optical waveforms of a two-dimensional optoelectronic modulator array operating at data rates from 0.5 to 4 Gbits/s.     

Development of a method and apparatus for measuring the light-reflecting characteristics of infrared optoelectronic systems

Questions related to the study of the light-reflecting characteristics of optoelectronic systems that function in the infrared domain are considered. A method and combined structural and functional optical apparatus scheme is proposed that makes it possible to perform measurements of the light-reflecting characteristics of modern infrared devices; a mathematical apparatus for processing the measurement results is also proposed. The expected value of the error of such measurements is determined. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 9, pp. 24–28, September, 2007.     

Digital signal processing techniques for high accuracy ultrasonicrange measurements

Several digital signal processing (DSP) methods are analyzed and compared with respect to the expected errors for an ultrasonic range measurement arrangement. These include L1, L2 norms and correlation with different approaches for envelope extraction. The influence of different factors such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), sampling frequency, and digitizing resolution on measurement errors is analyzed using a synthetic approach through nearly 40000 simulations. Results show different performance levels involving accuracy, computing time, and cost for the studied methods, although all of them allow reduction of errors by several orders of magnitude     

Active contour segmentation by use of a multichannel incoherent optical correlator

We describe an optoelectronic incoherent multichannel processor that is able to segment an object in a real image. The process is based on an active contour algorithm that has been transposed to optical signal processing to accelerate image processing. This implementation requires exact-valued correlations and thus opens attractive perspectives in terms of optical analog computation. Furthermore, this optical multichannel processor setup encourages incoherent processing with high-resolution images.     

An Atomically Thin Optoelectronic Machine Vision Processor

2D semiconductors, especially transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers, are extensively studied for electronic and optoelectronic applications. Beyond intensive studies on single transistors and photodetectors, the recent advent of large-area synthesis of these atomically thin layers has paved the way for 2D integrated circuits, such as digital logic circuits and image sensors, achieving an integration level of ≈100 devices thus far. Here, a decisive advance in 2D integrated circuits is reported, where the device integration scale is increased by tenfold and the functional complexity of 2D electronics is propelled to an unprecedented level. Concretely, an analog optoelectronic processor inspired by biological vision is developed, where 32 × 32 = 1024 MoS₂ photosensitive field-effect transistors manifesting persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effects are arranged in a crossbar array. This optoelectronic processor with PPC memory mimics two core functions of human vision: it captures and stores an optical image into electrical data, like the eye and optic nerve chain, and then recognizes this electrical form of the captured image, like the brain, by executing analog in-memory neural net computing. In the highlight demonstration, the MoS₂ FET crossbar array optically images 1000 handwritten digits and electrically recognizes these imaged data with 94% accuracy.     

Method of all-optical frequency encoded decimal to binary and binary coded decimal, binary to gray, and gray to binary data conversion using semiconductor optical amplifiers

Conversion of optical data from decimal to binary format is very important in optical computing and optical signal processing. There are many binary code systems to represent decimal numbers, the most common being the binary coded decimal (BCD) and gray code system. There are a wide choice of BCD codes, one of which is a natural BCD having a weighted code of 8421, by means of which it is possible to represent a decimal number from 0 to 9 with a combination of 4 bit binary digits. The reflected binary code, also known as the Gray code, is a binary numeral system where two successive values differ in only 1 bit. The Gray code is very important in digital optical communication as it is used to prevent spurious output from optical switches as well as to facilitate error correction in digital communications in an optical domain. Here in this communication, the author proposes an all-optical frequency encoded method of ":decimal to binary, BCD," "binary to gray," and "gray to binary" data conversion using the high-speed switching actions of semiconductor optical amplifiers. To convert decimal numbers to a binary form, a frequency encoding technique is adopted to represent two binary bits, 0 and 1. The frequency encoding technique offers advantages over conventional encoding techniques in terms of less probability of bit errors and greater reliability. Here the author has exploited the polarization switch made of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and a property of nonlinear rotation of the state of polarization of the probe beam in SOA for frequency conversion to develop the method of frequency encoded data conversion.     

Specification for a reconfigurable optoelectronic VLSI processor suitable for digital signal processing

A concept for a parallel digital signal processor based on opticalinterconnections and optoelectronic VLSI circuits is presented. Itis shown that the proper combination of optical communication, architecture, and algorithms allows a throughput that outperformspurely electronic solutions. The usefulness of low-level algorithmsfrom the add-and-shift class is emphasized. These algorithms leadto fine-grain, massively parallel on-chip processor architectures withhigh demands for optical off-chip interconnections. A comparativeperformance analysis shows the superiority of a bit-serialarchitecture. This architecture is mapped onto an optoelectronicthree-dimensional circuit, and the necessary optical interconnectionscheme is specified.     

A method of obtaining the radiation modulation function in an optoelectronic digital angle converter using a radon transform

A method of obtaining the radiation modulation function in the optical channel of practical optoelectronic digital angle converters using the apparatus of analytical geometry together with a local radial Radon transform is considered. The majority of the instrumental errors that arise when manufacturing and assembling the optomechanical unit are taken into account. The method can be extended to a wide class of optical coding devices and has practical applications.