JPH01102531A - Optical computer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute optical arithmetic operation in parallel and at high speed and to realize the processing with generality by connecting in series a plane type optical functional element. CONSTITUTION:As for the titled computer, plural cells formed by connecting in series an optical arithmetic unit 51 for executing an arithmetic operation in parallel in a two-dimensional plane by using a light beam, an optical switch 52 for switching spatially in parallel a data in the plane, and an optical memory 53 for binarizing and storing the parallel data are placed. The optical arithmetic unit has the role of a switch allowing an arithmetic operation between data of the adjacent cells and the data to branch into other cell. The cell can process independently the data, therefore, a two-dimensional parallel operation in the cell can be executed in parallel in the system. In such a way, the computer with generality can be constituted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a device that performs parallel high-speed calculations using light.

(Conventional technology and its problems) Research is progressing on computers that can perform calculations at high speed in order to process large-scale information, but methods using sequential processing using electric circuits are already approaching their performance limits. ing. Therefore, supercomputers, array processors, etc.
Research is progressing on parallel processing architectures that execute multiple operations simultaneously. On the other hand, light has spatial expansion and its physical properties do not interfere with each other, so operations using light have excellent parallelism. As means for modulating light, amplitude, phase, frequency, polarization, etc. have been considered, and spatial light modulators are being developed.

However, conventional computers lacked a well-organized system and lacked versatility.

The purpose of this invention is to connect solid optical functional devices in series,
The object of the present invention is to provide a device that can execute optical operations in parallel at high speed and realize versatile processing.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The optical computer of the present invention includes a light emitting surface formed from a plurality of light sources arranged in a planar manner, and a plurality of light source driving means for causing the light sources to emit light in response to a plurality of input signals. an optical processing device that performs optical calculation by changing the transmittance of the light emitted from the light emitting surface, an optical switch that simultaneously switches a plurality of light beams emitted from the optical processing device in parallel, and the light emitting surface. an optical switch control means for controlling a switch; an optical threshold means for binarizing a plurality of luminous fluxes emitted from the optical switch in parallel; an optical memory for storing a binary optical signal emitted from the optical threshold means; It has an optical calculation section composed of an optical memory control means that controls an optical memory, and a light observation section that observes the intensity of light emitted from the optical calculation section, the light source section, the optical calculation section, and the optical observation section. It is characterized in that it has a plurality of optical arithmetic units of adjacent optical arithmetic units and is arranged so that arithmetic operations can be executed between the optical arithmetic units of adjacent optical arithmetic units.

(Function) Figure 4 shows a conceptual diagram of the basic configuration of this optical computer. This optical computer has an optical arithmetic unit 51 that uses light to perform calculations in parallel in a two-dimensional plane, an optical switch 52 that switches data in the plane in spatial parallelism, and an optical memory 53 that binarizes and stores the parallel data. This is an arrangement of multiple cells connected to each other. The optical processing device functions as a switch that performs calculations between data in adjacent cells and branches the data to other cells. Since the cells can process data independently, two-dimensional parallel operations within the cells can be executed in parallel within the system.

Next, an optical arithmetic unit 51, an optical switch 52, an optical memory 53
I will explain each of them individually.

An example of the principle of the optical calculation device 51 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8. Two-dimensional binary input data 101 to be operated
and data obtained by inverting these input data are arranged in an array as shown in FIG. 5 to form the input surface 102. As shown in FIG. 6, when one of the two sets of input surfaces 103 and 104 is rotated by 90 degrees and overlapped using a half mirror 105, two sets of overlapping input patterns are obtained on the output surface 102. FIG. 7 shows an example of the pattern. of the input surface 103 as shown in FIG.

Data 108 is shown at the top left of the diagram, its inverted data 109 is shown at the top right, data 110 on the input surface 104 is shown at the bottom left, and its inverted data 111 is shown at the bottom right. (b), (c), (d),
In (e), the shaded area indicates the area that is not irradiated with light. b), (c), (d).

In (e), the input data (103, 104) is (0
,0), (0,1).

This corresponds to the case of (1, O) and (1, 1). At this time, the pattern of the mask 106 is 4 as shown in FIG. 8(a).
It is composed of patterns 112, 113, 114, and 115, each with a light transmittance of 0.1/4.1/2.3/
4.1. Input data 108.
Since either one of the lights 110 and 109.111 is irradiated, the mask pattern 112°113, 1
14.115 The light intensity after passing through is 0°50, with the strongest being 100% as shown in the level column of Table 1.
, 75.100%. If the transmitted light of one set of output patterns is collected and the light intensity is 1.0 or 50% when the light intensity is 100 or 75%, then two sets can be collected by changing the transmittance of the mask pattern. For example, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the input surface of the mask 112.1
If the transmittance of mask 14 is set to 1/2 and the transmittance of masks 113 and 115 is set to 0, the result of the AND operation is obtained on the output surface.

Further, as shown in (C), if the transmittance of the masks 112 and 114 is set to 1/4 and the transmittance of the masks 113 and 115 is set to 374, the result of the OR operation is obtained on the output surface. In this way, the partial transmittance of the mask is set to 0.1/4.1/2.3/
By setting the value to 4.1, 14 types of logical operations shown in Table 1 can be executed. The numbers in the pattern column in the table represent transmittance.

By combining the four mask patterns shown in FIG. 8 for each input two-dimensional data, logical operations can be executed in parallel. For example, the calculation results when data (0011) is input to the input screen 103 and data (0101) is input to the input screen 104 are shown on the left side of Table 1.

Next, an example of the principle of an optical switch will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

As shown in FIG. 9, a pattern mask 202 is used to cause the light source on the input surface 201 to emit light in accordance with two-dimensional binary input data, and to focus the light onto a desired position on the output surface 203 by the hologram 204. Set the position of the opening.

FIG. 10 shows the structures of the input surface 201, pattern mask 202, and output surface 203 of FIG. 9 for 2×2 input data. (a) shows the position of the light source on the input surface 201, (b) shows the structure of the pattern mask 202, and (C) shows the position of the photodetector on the output surface 203. The light sources 11, 12, 21° 22 on the input surface 201 are located at the intersections of equally spaced grids.
They are arranged two-dimensionally in a ×2 array. The pattern mask 202 has 16 decomposition points (patterns) aa, ab, ba, bb, ac, which is the square of the number of light sources on the input surface 201 (four in this case).

ad, be, bd, ca, cb, da, d
It has b, cc, cd, dc, and dd.

The output surface 203 has the same number of decomposition points (detectors) AA, AB, BA, BB as the number of light sources on the input surface 201.

At this time, the hologram 204 is manufactured so that the light emitted from 11.12.21.22 is focused on AA, AB, BA, and BB, respectively. The light incident on the hologram is separated into four parts, each with patterns aa, ab,
enters ba and bb. Therefore, by changing the transmittance of the pattern mask, 2×2 input data can be switched in parallel and independently to the 2×2 cutting edge. Table 2 shows the opening positions of the pattern mask that determine the relationship between input and output.

In Table 2 and above, we have described the case where the input data is 2 x 2. For example, in the case of 4 x 4, the input surface 201 has 4 x 4 light sources, the pattern mask 202 has 16 x 16 patterns, and the output surface 203 has 4×4 photodetectors, and the light source on the input surface and the photodetector on the output surface correspond to 1:16, respectively, by the hologram 204. Generally, if the input data is nXn, the number of patterns is at least n2X
If n2 and the number of photodetectors on the output surface is nXn, the optical switch of the present invention can be realized.

An optical memory such as a surface-emitting bistable semiconductor laser is connected in series to these, and a portion of the calculated and switched data can be latched. Furthermore, the latched data is fed back to the optical arithmetic device again, allowing the desired arithmetic operation to be repeated. The calculation result is output when the desired result is obtained. The type of calculation of the optical calculation device and the switching address of the optical switch can be changed at high speed, and by performing calculations repeatedly, a data flow machine or an image processing device can be realized.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the optical computer of the present invention. After being collimated by a perspective metering lens array 8, the data is processed by an optical switch 5 and calculated in parallel with data latched in an optical memory 6. In order to do this, the light enters the optical calculation device 9. Details of the optical processing device and the optical switch will be described later. The calculation result is switched by the optical switch 10 and latched in the optical memory 11. A part of the latched data is calculated by the optical calculation device 1 with the data of the adjacent cell, and processed by the optical switch 2 and the optical memory 3. Also, some of the latched data is sent to adjacent cells for processing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the light source section and the optical calculation section. For example, array light sources 11 and 12 made up of light sources capable of high-speed modulation such as LEDs are blinked.

The input data is controlled by a drive device 18, 19 consisting of a circuit that applies a voltage to each light source. The light flux emitted from the array light source 11.12 is collimated by the lens array 13.14. These plurality of collimated lights are transmitted through the half-mirror light modulator frame. By placing the aperture of the spatial light modulator at a position determined by the type of logic operation using the control device 20, a desired operation can be executed. The light transmitted through the spatial light modulator is
The light is received by a detector array 17 such as a two-dimensional CCD, and is digitized and binarized by a zero converter 21.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical switch.

In this embodiment, the configurations of the input surface, pattern mask, and output surface correspond to those shown in FIG. 10. Therefore, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 10 are used for corresponding elements.

This optical switch consists of two
An array light source 31 consisting of two diverging light sources that can be modulated at high speed, such as semiconductor lasers, and a circuit that applies voltage to each diverging light source, and a drive that controls input data to blink the diverging light sources. For example, a liquid crystal TV having a device 34, an array hologram that branches the light emitted from the array light source 1 into four detectors, and 4×4 decomposition points that transmit the divergent light branched by the hologram.
A spatial light modulator 32 such as the above, a control device 35 that controls the position of the aperture of the spatial light modulator 32 so that the emitted light is branched into a desired output light, and a control device 35 that controls the position of the aperture of the spatial light modulator 32, A detector array 33 such as a 4×4 dimensional COD that collects light, and a threshold element that binarizes and outputs the output of the detector array 33. Here, for example, a converter 3
It consists of 6.

Next, the operation of this optical branching device will be described in the case where the light from the light source 11 passes through the pattern bb of the spatial light modulator 32 and is branched to the detector BB. The light source 11 of the array light source 1 is turned on by the driving device 4. The light emitted from the light source 11 enters the hologram II of the arrayed hologram. At this time, the incident light is separated into four parts, patterns aa,
enters ab, ba, and bb. The control device 35 controls the output light to match the desired output light B of the detector array 33.
In order to branch to B, the amplitude transmittance of patterns aa, ab, and ba is set to o, and the transmittance of pattern bb is set to 1. The light transmitted through pattern bb is transmitted to photodetector B of detector array 3.
The light is received by B, and is binarized by the threshold element 36.

An optical memory is, for example, a surface-emitting bistable laser arranged in an array, and can hold data for a certain period of time depending on the presence or absence of external input light.

FIG. 11 shows an example of optically realizing the half adder shown in FIG. 12 using this optical computer. Optical calculation device 40
1 creates the inverted signal A of input A. This signal is input to the optical calculation device 403, while the optical calculation device 40
The other output A of 1 is input to the optical arithmetic unit 402, and an arithmetic operation is performed between it and the signal B. Input B is synchronized with signal A by optical memory 405 and then input to optical arithmetic unit 402 . Here, the inverted signal B of signal B and the signal A
A NOR signal AUB of signal B and signal B is generated, and an inverted signal of signal B is input to optical arithmetic unit 403. Signal AUB is synchronized by optical memory 406 and then input to optical arithmetic unit 404. A NOR signal AnB of the signal A and the signal B is created by the optical calculation device 403, one becomes the output C (carry), and the other is input to the optical calculation device 404, and the signal (S, signal A
An AND operation with UB is performed to obtain the output S (sum).

These outputs C and S are converted into electrical signals by an optical observation unit such as a detector. Alternatively, the optical signal remains as an input to the next arithmetic unit. The optical calculation device 40f is the first
The inverter 502 and optical operation device 402 in FIG.
3 is a NOR gate 504, and an optical operation device 404 is an AND
This corresponds to gate 505.

As described above, electrically configurable circuits can be easily created using this optical computer, and furthermore, electrically difficult massively parallel operations can be easily realized.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above in detail, using the optical computer of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical computer of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical computing device. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical switch, FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing the principle of an optical computer, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between input data and an input surface of an optical calculation device. Figure 6 shows the principle of optical calculation method, Figure 7
In the figures, (a) to (e) are diagrams showing the output pattern of the optical processing device, Figure 8 (a) to (e) are diagrams showing the mask pattern, Figure 9 is the optical switch, and Figure 10 (a) ) to (C) are diagrams showing an input surface, a pattern mask, and an output surface.

Figure 11 is a diagram showing an optical circuit realizing a half adder;
The figure is a circuit diagram of a half adder.

In the figure, 1, 9.51... Optical calculation device 2.5.10.52
... Optical switch 3, 6.11 ... Optical memory 4
...Half mirror 701, array light source 8...Collimating lens array 11, 12...
・Array light source '13.14...Luns array 15・
...Half mirror 16...Spatial light modulator 17...Detector array 18.19...Drive device 20...
Control device 21...-A/D converter 31...
...Array light source 32...Spatial light modulator 33.
...Detector array 34...Drive device 35...
Control device 36... Threshold element 37... Array hologram

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light source section comprising a light emitting surface formed from a plurality of light sources arranged in a planar manner and a plurality of light source driving means for causing the light sources to emit light in response to a plurality of input signals; an optical arithmetic device that optically performs calculations by changing the light flux; an optical switch that simultaneously switches a plurality of light beams emitted from the optical arithmetic device in parallel; an optical switch control means that controls the optical switch; and a plurality of light beams emitted from the optical switch. an optical calculation section comprising an optical threshold means for binarizing the luminous flux in parallel, an optical memory for storing the binary optical signal emitted from the optical threshold means, and an optical memory control means for controlling the optical memory; It has a light observation section that observes the intensity of the light emitted from the light operation section, and has a plurality of the light source section, the light operation section, and the light observation section, and has a plurality of light operation devices of adjacent light operation sections. An optical computer characterized by being arranged so as to be able to perform calculations.