A state feedback control system for flexible structures implemented using a holographic sensor and optical processor is presented. Real-time holography provides a mechanism for sensing the distributed shape of a broad class of one and two-dimensional flexible structures in a form that can be processed using fixed optics. The optical processing solves the spillover problem in the theory of the control of flexible structures. The optical processing also simplifies the computation allowing the state feedback control of a large number of vibrational without a digital computer. The combination of holographic sensing and optical processing provides a potential solution to both the spillover and computation problems in the control of flexible structures. / Ph. D.