Possibility of construction of an arithmetic unit based on controlled optical transparencies

An analysis is made of the possibility of construction of arithmetic units based on the passage of light signals through electric-field-controlled optical transparencies. Such arithmetic units can perform any Boolean algebraic operations. Methods for performing the basic arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) are described. A brief discussion is given of the block diagram of an optoelectronic arithmetic unit with a speed of several tens of millions of algorithmic operations per second.