Photoconductor-Thermoplastic Image Transducer

The photoconductor-thermoplastic, or photoplastic, recording medium can serve as an incoherent-to-coherent transducer to insert data into a coherent optical processor in real time. The photoplastic transducer is characterized by good exposure sensitivity, high resolution, and simple construction, and it is well suited to applications requiring image retention before and during readout. In our investigations we measured exposure sensitivities of less than 50 ergs/cm2 , and achieved a write cycle of charge, expose, and develop in less than 10 msec. Because of the band-pass nature of the recording medium, a spatial frequency offset was provided by overlaying the image with a grating. Images were recorded with incoherent light and read out with coherent light with good fidelity, and the transducer was tested as the input to a matched filter processor.