Optical implementations of mathematical resolution.

Mathematical resolution is an algorithmic technique for reasoning from facts expressed in clause form to a conclusion. The technique is normally implemented on electronic computers with list-processing languages. This paper presents data representation and processing techniques for a parallel implementation using array-based optical logic. Implementations up through the quantified propositional calculus are presented, and the operations of resolvent formation, unification, and search are discussed. It is shown that a largely parallel formulation of resolution is possible, and optical technologies are suggested to implement this formulation.