Efficient optical architecture for sparsely connected neural networks

Butler P. Hine III; John D. Downie; Max B. Reid

doi:10.1117/12.21283

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1 September 1990 Efficient optical architecture for sparsely connected neural networks

Butler P. Hine III, John D. Downie, Max B. Reid

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Proceedings Volume 1296, Advances in Optical Information Processing IV; (1990) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.21283
Event: 1990 Technical Symposium on Optics, Electro-Optics, and Sensors, 1990, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

An architecture for general-purpose optical neural network processor is presented in which the interconnections and weights are formed by directing coherent beams holographically, thereby making use of the space-bandwidth products of the recording medium for sparsely interconnected networks more efficiently that the commonly used vector-matrix multiplier, since all of the hologram area is in use. An investigation is made of the use of computer-generated holograms recorded on such updatable media as thermoplastic materials, in order to define the interconnections and weights of a neural network processor; attention is given to limits on interconnection densities, diffraction efficiencies, and weighing accuracies possible with such an updatable thin film holographic device.

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Butler P. Hine III, John D. Downie, and Max B. Reid "Efficient optical architecture for sparsely connected neural networks", Proc. SPIE 1296, Advances in Optical Information Processing IV, (1 September 1990); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.21283

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