JP2703900B2 - Light switch - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical switch required for performing parallel high-speed operations using light. [Prior art and its problems] In order to process large-scale information, research on computers that perform high-speed operations is progressing. However, the sequential processing method using electric circuits is already approaching the performance limit. I have.
Therefore, research on a parallel processing architecture, such as a supercomputer or an array processor, for simultaneously executing a plurality of operations has been advanced. On the other hand, light has a spatial spread, and its physical properties do not interfere with each other. Therefore, the calculation using light has excellent parallelism. However, until now, there has been no method for switching data to an arbitrary place at high speed, and data cannot be processed at high speed using light. [Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide an optical switch for changing the amplitude transmittance of light and switching data to an arbitrary place. [Means for Solving the Problems] An optical switch according to the present invention includes an array-like light source in which light sources are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, light source driving means for causing the light source to emit light by an input signal, and a photodetector. A photodetection array arranged in a dimensional matrix, having the same number of decomposition areas as the array-like light source, and further having the same number of decomposition areas as the light detection array in one decomposition area; A light modulating means for changing an amplitude transmittance for changing an intensity of light emitted from the light source at each, a control means for controlling the light modulating means, and a transmitted light from the light modulating means to the light detection array. It is characterized by having means for branching and condensing. [Operation] As shown in FIG. 2, the light source on the input surface 101 is made to emit light in accordance with the two-dimensional binary input data, and the hologram 104 is used to focus the light on a desired position on the output surface 103. The position of the opening of the mask 102 is set. FIG. 3 shows the structure of the input surface 101, the pattern mask 102, and the output surface 103 of FIG. 2 for 2 × 2 input data. (A) shows the position of the light source on the input surface 101, (b) shows the position of the opening of the pattern mask 102, and (c) shows the position of the photodetector on the output surface 103. Light source 11, 12, 21, 22 on input surface 101
Are arranged so as to be arranged in a 2 × 2 array at the intersections of the grid at equal intervals.
They are arranged dimensionally. The pattern mask 102 is the square of the number of light sources on the input surface 101 (four in this case) 16
Divided areas (patterns) aa, ab, ba, bb, ac, ad, bc, bd, c
a, cb, da, db, cc, cd, dc, dd. The output surface 103 is
The same number of light detectors AA, AB, BA, and BB as the number of light sources on the input surface 101 are provided. For example, if the hologram 104 is manufactured such that the light transmitted through the pattern aa of the pattern mask 102 is focused on the photodetector AA on the output surface 103 and the light transmitted through the pattern ab is focused on the photodetector AB, 2 × 2 input data can be switched to 2 × 2 output destinations in parallel and independently. Table 1 shows the hologram focusing destinations after the pattern transmission. As described above, the case where the input data is 2 × 2 has been described.
For example, in the case of 4 × 4, the input surface 101 has 4 × 4 light sources, the pattern mask 102 has 16 × 16 patterns, the output surface 103 has 4 × 4 photodetectors, and a hologram. By 104, the light source on the input surface 101 and the photodetector on the output surface 103 correspond one-to-one. Generally, the input data is nx
In the case of n, if the number of patterns is at least n ² × n ² and the number of photodetectors on the output surface is n × n, the optical switch of the present invention can be realized. Examples Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the optical switch of the present invention. In this embodiment, the configuration of the input surface, the pattern mask, and the output surface corresponds to that shown in FIG. Therefore, the same reference numerals are used for the corresponding elements as in FIG. This optical switch applies an voltage to each of the divergent light sources, and an array-like light source 1 composed of 2 × 2 divergent light sources capable of high-speed modulation, for example, semiconductor lasers arranged at intersections of equally spaced gratings. A driving device 4 which is constituted by a circuit and controls input data for blinking a divergent light source, and a spatial light modulator 2 such as a liquid crystal TV having 4 × 4 divided areas for transmitting divergent light emitted from the array light source 1 And a control device 5 for controlling the position of the opening of the spatial light modulator 2 so that the emitted light is branched to a desired output destination, and, for example, 4 × 4 light condensing light transmitted through the spatial light modulator 2 The hologram 8 is composed of an array hologram 7, a detector array 3 such as a two-dimensional CCD, and a threshold element 6 for binarizing the output of the detector array 3 and outputting it. Next, the operation of the optical switch will be described for the case where light from the divergent light source 11 is switched to the photodetector BB through the pattern bb of the spatial light modulator 2. The diverging light source 11 of the array light source 1 is turned on by the driving device 4. Divergent light source
The divergent light emitted from 11 passes through the spatial light modulator 2.
At this time, the spatial light modulator 2 is controlled by the control device 5 so that the emitted light is branched to a desired output destination BB of the detector array 3.
Control the position of the opening. That is, the pattern bb of the spatial light modulator 2 is used as an opening. As a result, the light transmittance of the pattern bb is changed to 1 and the light transmittance of the patterns aa, ab, and ba is changed to 0. The light transmitted through the pattern bb is collected on the photodetector BB of the detector array 3 by the hologram 8 immediately after the pattern bb in the array hologram 7. The light received by the detector is the threshold element 6
Is binarized. [Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, by using the optical switch of the present invention, data can be branched in parallel, at high speed,
Light can be collected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical switch of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the principle of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an input surface, a pattern mask, and an output surface. FIG. 1. Array light source 2 Spatial light modulator 3 Detector array 4 Driving device 5 Control device 6 Threshold element 7 Array hologram 8 Hologram 101 Input surface 102 …… Pattern mask 103 …… Output surface

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An array light source in which light sources are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, light source driving means for causing the light source to emit light by an input signal, a light detection array in which photodetectors are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, and the array light source An amplitude transmittance for changing the intensity of the light emitted from the light source in each of the decomposition areas, having the same number of decomposition areas, and further having the same number of decomposition areas as the light detection array in one decomposition area; An optical switch, comprising: a light modulating means for changing the light modulating means; a control means for controlling the light modulating means;