Optical implementation of content addressable associative memory based on the Hopfield model for neural networks and on the addition of nonlinear iterative feedback to a vector-matrix multiplier is described. Numerical and experimental results presented show that the approach is capable of introducing accuracy and robustness to optical processing while maintaining the traditional advantages of optics, namely, parallelism and massive interconnection capability. Moreover a potentially useful link between neural processing and optics that can be of interest in pattern recognition and machine vision is established.

A numerically efficient algorithm for expanding a function in a series of Zernike polynomials is presented. The algorithm evaluates the expansion coefficients through the standard 2-D integration formula derived from the Zernike polynomials' orthogonal properties. Quadratic approximations are used along with the function to be expanded to eliminate the computational problems associated with integrating the oscillatory behavior of the Zernike polynomials. This yields a procedure that is both fast and numerically accurate. Comparisons are made between the proposed scheme and a procedure using a nested 2-D Simpson's integration rule. The results show that typically at least a fourfold improvement in computational speed can be expected in practical use.

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A geometrical theory of aberrations for the vicinity of the focus of arbitrary off-axis sections of conic mirrors is derived. It is shown that an off-axis conic mirror introduces linear astigmatism in the image. However, in classical two-mirror telescopes this aberration can be eliminated by tilting the secondary parent mirror axis. It is also shown that the practical geometrical-optics performance of a classical off-axis two-mirror telescope with no linear astigmatism is equivalent to the performance of an on-axis system, proving that both systems have identical third-order coma. To demonstrate the applicability of the theory developed in a practical system, a fast (i.e., f/2), compact, obstruction-free classical off-axis Cassegrain telescope is designed.