Testing and analysis of computer generated holograms for microphotonic devices

Opto-VLSI processors offer promising technological platform for implementing reconfigurable Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) networks. By driving an Opto-VLSI processor with a computer generated hologram (CGH), dynamic optical beam steering and/or multicasting can be achieved. In this paper we develop and compare CGH algorithms based on simulated annealing and projection methods, for optimum beam steering and multicasting applications. Experimental results show that simulated annealing can generate accurate output targets with low crosstalk but requires a long computation time for large-scale multicasting. The projection method is more computationally efficient in generating multicasting holograms, however, it is susceptible to higher crosstalk.