Planar optical implementation of fractional correlation

Abstract A fractional correlation operation has been implemented by using a planar optics configuration which consists of all optical components integrated on a single glass substrate. The fractional correlation filter and Fresnel lenses with continuous surface-relief structures have been fabricated directly on the glass substrate using the same laser-beam writing process. Excellent agreement between the experimental and calculated results shows that planar optics is very appropriate for space-variant operations, like fractional correlation, because of its accurate determination of fractional orders and high stability in optics alignment.