Correlator hardware simulation of an optical system using two-dimensional spatial light modulators

Adding realistic hardware characteristics to computer simulations of optical processing systems provides insight to the performance of the system. The Photonic Systems Group at Martin Marietta Astronautics has produced an optical correlation simulation library that incorporates the operating characteristics of optical hardware. The simulations using this library modify theoretically perfect simulations for comparison to optical correlator hardware performance. A comparison of this hardware simulation with an actual correlator is presented.