Improving the processing speed of an LCD-panel-based correlator by using a multichannel correlation approach

Liquid crystal devices (LCDs) have proven to have adequate characteristics for use as the spatial light modulators, which are the key devices in the real-time optical information processing systems. However, the effective update rate of the LCD is rather low due to the transient response of the liquid crystal molecules and it has restricted the processing speed of the optoelectronic processors. In this paper, we use a multi-channel correlation approach to improve the processing speed and get satisfactory experimental results. The speed has been improved from 6 to 12 images per second. By this approach, not only the processing speed can be improved, but also the display area of the LCD can be sufficiently exploited.