Selectively reflective edge detection system based on cholesteric liquid crystal

Optical analog computing has attracted extensive interest in image processing and optical engineering in recent decades. Here, we propose a reflective optical analog computing system based on a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC), which simplifies the traditional optical analog computing system by taking advantage of the CLC reflecting the light with specified circular polarization and provides a new, to the best of our knowledge, idea for the integration of optical analog computing systems. Meanwhile, we present results in which a section of an insect foot is observed using the reflective optical analog computing system, which may develop valuable applications in biomedical imaging.