Unconventional optical elements for information storage, processing and communications. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research workshop, Tel Aviv, Israel, October 19--21, 1998 (Q2736219)

The articles of this volume will not be indexed individually.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEFrom the introduction: The articles of this volume will not be indexed individually. The field of optics has been accelerating at an unprecedented rate, due both to the tremendous growth of the field of fiber-optic communications, and to the improvement of optical materials and devices. Throughput capabilities of fiber systems are accelerating faster than Moore's law, the famous growth rate of silicon chip capability, which has propelled that industry relentlessly over decades. In addition, new optical storage techniques push the limits of information density, with an ever decreasing cost per bit of storage. Economic investment in photonics is at an all-time high. At the same time, other fields of optics, adaptive optics for instance, are bringing new capabilities to more classical applications such as astronomical imaging. New lasers continue to be developed, with applications in display, sensing, and biomedicine following at ever-shorter intervals after the initial discoveries.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEGiven this background, the NATO Mediterranean Dialog Advanced Research Workshop on Unconventional Optical Elements for Information Storage, Processing and Communications, held in Israel on October 19-21, 1998, came at an opportune moment in the history of optics. Its aim was to overview the current state-of-the-art and encourage cooperation in the Mediterranean region, with a view to highlighting and enhancing the existing potential for further development and innovation.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIt is impossible in a brief preface to do justice to all the contributions presented in the meeting and in this book. Here, we simply point out broad categories of papers to help the reader understand what the book contains. Unconventional imaging including adaptive optics (Leith, Lohmann, and Dainty) and unconventional optical processing including interferometry (Marom et al., Shamir, Mendlovic et al., and Vlad et al.) are covered in general. Diffractive elements (Amitai et al., Chavel et al., and Bernardo) and microoptics (Dandliker et al., and Bauer et al.) are active areas of enabling research and their progress is well represented here. Nonlinear optics (Zyss et al., Crosignani et al., Aytur, and Couris et al.) and ultrafast optics (Silberberg et al., and Fainman et al.) are topics of much current interest and some recent developments are represented. Optical communication including research and development on devices (Weber et al., Al Salameh et al., and Sadot) and WDM systems (Willner) is very well represented. Novel devices for photonics (Friesem et al., Soms et al.) and recent developments in optical interconnects and switching (Ozaktas, Agranat et al., and Hall) all of which can lead to new applications, are well covered. Laser-materials interaction and processing (Vainos, and Rosenbluh et al.) and optical information storage (Mitkas et al., and Moharam et al.) continue to be topics of much interest and are represented here as well. The book also contains a broad overview of optics research and development in Israel (Oron).