Abstract

A hybrid symbolic substitution scheme is proposed based on a recoding of input numbers, so that the optical addition process can be carried out in a single step. In this scheme, the to-be- added numbers are encoded, independently, into MSD numbers so that when added they result in carry-free addition.¹ This encoding step can be performed electronically beforehand unlike other single step processes and the addition step can be performed optically. The optic overhead of the process is reduced by distributing the total task between electronics and optics. The overall result is fewer rules to-be-implemented optically without the need to re-encode as in the multiple step processes.²

© 1991 Optical Society of America