Design and testing of three-level optimal correlation filters

Previously, we have designed 3-level filters(suitable for implementation on magneto-optic spatial light modulators) to maximize the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and to separately maximize peak-to-correlation energy (PCE) that measures the correlation peak sharpness. In practice, we want the correlation peaks to be sharp (i.e., large PCE) as well as noise-tolerant (i.e., large SNR). In this paper, we present a new method to optimally combine these two desirable properties into a single optimization procedure. Similar methods to trade off SNR versus peak efficiency and PCE versus peak efficiency will be presented. Both simulation and experimental results will be included.