An Optical Reconfiguration System with Four Contexts

Abstract

Optically reconfigurable gate arrays (ORGAs), which consist of a gate array VLSI, a holographic memory, and a laser diode array, are a type of programmable gate array that can achieve rapid reconfiguration and numerous reconfiguration contexts. The gate array of an ORGA is optically reconfigured using diffraction patterns from a holographic memory that is addressed using a laser diode array. It is noteworthy that ORGA-VLSIs which can be reconfigured in nanoseconds without any overhead have already been fabricated. However, to date, no multi- holographic reconfiguration system that is suitable for such rapidly reconfigurable ORGA-VLSIs without any overhead has ever been developed. As the first step toward realizing such a device, a four-context optical system is demonstrated experimentally using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator and a He-Ne laser. This paper describes those experimental results and plans for future work.