Research Interests

Research in Dr. Wagner's group at CU concerns optical information processing and focuses on utilizing the unique computational properties of optical systems to produce special purpose signal processing systems with significant computational advantages over conventional microelectronic digital approaches. Currently, I am pursuing 5 avenues of research towards this goal. Adaptive optical neural networks using dynamic volume holograms; imaging, target recognition, and adaptive beamforming using optical processing of advanced radar systems; development of photorefractive and organic holographic materials and VLSI-liquid crystal devices for incorporation in these systems; advanced acoustooptic crossbars and routing systems for ultrawideband optical interconnection networks using both bulk and surface wave devices, and interactions between optical spatial solitons and 3-dimensional light bullets for ultrafast and massively parallel digital optical computing.

Project Summaries


The following are more detailed project summaries available on-line: