A review of liquid crystal spatial light modulators:devices and applications

Spatial light modulators,as dynamic flat-panel optical devices,have witnessed rapid development over the past two decades,concomitant with the advancements in micro-and opto-electronic integration technology.In particular,liquid-crystal spatial light modulator(LC-SLM)technologies have been regarded as versatile tools for generating arbitrary optical fields and tailoring all degrees of freedom beyond just phase and amplitude.These devices have gained significant interest in the nascent field of structured light in space and time,facilitated by their ease of use and real-time light manipulation,fueling both fundamental research and practical applications.Here we provide an overview of the key working principles of LC-SLMs and review the significant progress made to date in their deployment for various applications,covering topics as diverse as beam shaping and steering,holography,optical trapping and tweezers,measurement,wavefront coding,optical vortex,and quantum optics.Finally,we conclude with an outlook on the potential opportunities and technical challenges in this rapidly developing field.

Lensless Vanderlugt optical correlator using two phase-only spatial light modulators(Invited Paper)

A lensless Vanderlugt optical correlator using two phase-only spatial light modulators （SLMs） is proposed. The SLMs are used for displaying input and filter patterns respectively. The SLMs are also used as programmable lenses in order to realize the lensless construction. This lensless system is simple and its alignment adjustment is easy. The performance of the SLMs as programmable lenses is also described.

Two-Dimensional GaAs/AlGaAs Multiple Quantum Well Spatial Light Modulators

Multiple quantum well spatial light modulators with 128×128 array in 38μm pitch are fabricated using two pproaches, one with an attachment of an optical substrate and another one without. These two fabrication processes are described and compared.

Minimizing the effects of unmodulated light and uneven intensity profile on the holographic images reconstructed by pixelated spatial light modulators

A simple and effective approach is proposed to minimize the effect of unmodulated light and uneven intensity caused by the pixelated structure of the spatial light modulator in a holographic display. A more uniform image is produced by purposely shifting the holographic images of multiple reconstructed lights with different incident angles from the zero-diffraction-order and overlapping those selected different orders. The simulation and optical experimental results show that the influence of the zero-diffraction-order can be reduced, while keeping the good uniformity of the target images by this new approach.

Beam steering approach for high-precision spatial light modulators

Steering accuracy is limited by the quantized phase modulation values and the number of phase pixels for spatial light modulators （SLMs）.Conventional methods of beam steering lack optimum precision.In this letter,a beam steering approach based on horizontally moving phase steps is proposed.Compared with the conventional methods,this novel method is able to reduce the maximum normalized steering error in SLM significantly by a factor proportional to the number of pixels.In addition,steering errors of high steering angles can be drastically reduced by a factor proportional to the product of the number of pixels and the quantized phase levels; the number of high-precision steering angles increases with the number of pixels or the quantized phase levels increasing.

A universal programmable driving circuit for spatial light modulators

A universal programmable multi-quantum-well（MQW） spatial light modulator（SLM） driving circuit is developed.With a twice scanning, it can generate programmable signals to drive a non-linear MQW SLM by using a software preprocessing unit.By adjusting the switching network of the driving circuit, this circuit can reduce the switching noise and improve the output precision.The chip test results show that the driving voltage can swing from 0 to VDD, and its resolution could be close to 256 with a pixel area of only 65 × 65 μm2.

High contrast ratio,high uniformity multiple quantum well spatial light modulators

Our latest research results on GaAs-A1GaAs multiple quantum well spatial light modulators are presented. The thickness uniformity of the epitaxial layers across the 3-inch wafer grown by our molecular beam epitaxy is better than 0.1% and the variation of cavity resonance wavelength within the wafer is only 0.9 nm. A contrast ratio （CR） of 102 by varying bias voltage from 0 to 6.7 V is achieved after fine tuning the cavity by etching an adjust layer. Both theoretical and experimental results demonstrate that incorporating an adjust layer is an effective tuning method for obtaining high CR.

A low-power high-speed driving circuit for spatial light modulators

This paper describes the design and test of a novel custom driving circuit for multi-quantum-well （MQW） spatial light modulators（SLMs）.Unlike previous solutions,we integrated all blocks in one chip to synchronize the control logic circuit and the driving circuits.Single-slope digital-to-analog converters（DACs） inside each pixel are not adopted because it is difficult to eliminate capacitor mismatch.64 column-shared 8-bit resistor-string DACs are utilized to provide programmable output voltages from 0.5 to 3.8 V.They are located on the top of 64×64 driving pixels tightly to match each other with several dummies.Each DAC performs its conversion in 280 ns and draws 80μA.For a high speed data transfer rate,the system adopts a 2-stage shift register that operates at 50 MHz and the modulating rate achieves 50 K frames/s while dissipating 302 mW from a 5-V supply.The die is fabricated in a 0.35 /μm CMOS process and its area is 5.5 x 7 mm^2.

Steering light into logic patterns with two-dimensional cascaded multimode waveguide

Steering light into logic patterns with two-dimensional cascaded multimode waveguide is demonstrated. By employing the imaging properties of 2D multimode interference （MMI） and partial phase modulation method, the design ideas and the implementing methods of the 2^（2×2） bits type spatial logic steering are discussed; therefore the structure of logical pattern is proposed. Numerical simulation is carried out to verify the design in detail by using the beam propagation method. It is expected to realize logic coders by using the integrated optical methods and exploit their potential applications in the field of optical logic.

Diffractive characteristics of the liquid crystal spatial light modulator

The liquid crystal spatial light modulator （LC SLM） is very suitable for wavefront correction and optical testing and can produce a wavefront with large phase change and high accuracy. The LC SLM is composed of thousands of pixels and the pixel size and shape have effects on the diffractive characteristics of the LC SLM. This paper investigates the pixel effect on the phase of the wavefront with the scalar diffractive theory. The results show that the maximum optical path difference modulation is 41μm to produce the paraboloid wavefront with the peak to valley accuracy better than λ/10. Effects of the mismatch between the pixel and the period, and black matrix on the diffraction efficiency of the LC SLM are also analysed with the Fresnel phase lens model. The ability of the LC SLM is discussed for optical testing and wavefront correction based on the calculated results. It shows that the LC SLM can be used as a wavefront corrector and a compensator.

Fast generation of controllable equal-intensity four beams based on isosceles triangle multilevel phase grating realized by liquid crystal spatial light modulator

Liquid crystal spatial light modulator （LCSLM） realizing equal-intensity multiple beams often has some features, i.e., phase valley between two adjacent pixels, flybaek region when phase decreases immediately from 2~r to 0, and inevitable backplane curvature, which are different from those of most conventional diffractive optical elements （DOEs）, such as static DOEs. For optimal intensity uniformity, equal-intensity multi-beam generation must be considered for these artifacts. We present a tunable-grating method in which the intensity uniformity can be improved by considering the LCSLM artifacts. For instance, tuning phase modulation depth of the grating, called isosceles triangle multilevel phase grating （ITMPG）, can be used not only to improve the intensity uniformity, but also to fast steer four beams with narrow beamwidths, determined by the same effective aperture of ITMPG. Improved intensity uniformity and high relative diffraction efficiency are demonstrated through experiments with phase-only LCSLM.

High-voltage super-junction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor with a partial lightly doped pillar

A novel super-junction lateral double-diffused metal-oxide semiconductor （SJ-LDMOS） with a partial lightly doped P pillar （PD） is proposed. Firstly, the reduction in the partial P pillar charges ensures the charge balance and suppresses the substrate-assisted depletion effect. Secondly, the new electric field peak produced by the P/P junction modulates the surface electric field distribution. Both of these result in a high breakdown voltage （BV）. In addition, due to the same conduction paths, the specific on-resistance （Ron,sp） of the PD SJ-LDMOS is approximately identical to the conventional SJ-LDMOS. Simulation results indicate that the average value of the surface lateral electric field of the PD SJ-LDMOS reaches 20 V/μm at a 15 μm drift length, resulting in a BV of 300 V.

3D fluorescence emission difference microscopy based on spatial light modulator

We report three-dimensional fluorescence emission difference(3D-FED)microscopy using a spatial light modulator(SLM).Zero phase,0–2
vortex phase and binary 0-pi phase are loaded on the SLM to generate the corresponding solid,doughnut and z-axis hollow excitation spot,respectively.Our technique achieves super-resolved image by subtracting three di®erently acquired images with proper subtractive factors.Detailed theoretical analysis and simulation tests are proceeded to testify the performance of 3D-FED.Also,the improvement of lateral and axial resolution is demonstrated by imaging 100 nm°uorescent beads.The experiment yields lateral resolution of 140 nm and axial resolution of approximate 380 nm.

Calibration and data restoration of light field modulated imaging spectrometer

A light field modulated imaging spectrometer （LFMIS） can acquire the spatial-spectral datacube of targets of interest or a scene in a single shot. The spectral information of a point target is imaged on the pixels covered by a microlens. The pixels receive spectral information from different spectral filters to the diffraction and misalignments of the optical components. In this paper, we present a linear spectral multiplexing model of the acquired target spectrum. A calibration method is proposed for calibrating the center wavelengths and bandwidths of channels of an LFMIS system based on the liner-variable filter （LVF） and for determining the spectral multiplexing matrix. In order to improve the accuracy of the restored spectral data, we introduce a reconstruction algorithm based on the total least square （TLS） approach. Simulation and experimental results confirm the performance of the spectrum reconstruction algorithm and validate the feasibility of the proposed calibrating scheme.

Superpixel-Based Complex Field Modulation Using a Digital Micromirror Device for Focusing Light through Scattering Media

We present a digital micromirror device（DMD） based superpixel method for focusing light through scattering media by modulating the complex field of incident light. Firstly, we numerically and experimentally investigate focusing light through a scattering sample using the superpixel methods with different target complex fields.Then, single-point and multiple-point focusing experiments are performed using this superpixel-based complex modulation method. In our experiment, up to 71.5% relative enhancement is realized. The use of the DMDbased superpixel method for the control of the complex field of incident light opens an avenue to improve the enhancement of focusing light through scattering media.

Experimental implementation of phase triplicator gratings in a spatial light modulator

In this work,we compare different methods for implementing a triplicator,a phase grating that generates three equiintense diffraction orders.The design with optimal efficiency features a continuous phase profile,which cannot be easily reproduced,and is typically affected by quantization.We compare its performance with binary and sinusoidal phase profiles.We also analyze the effect of quantizing the phase levels.Finally,a random approach is adopted to eliminate the additional harmonic orders.In all cases,a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator is employed to experimentally verify and compare the different approaches.

Multi-channel generation of vortex beams with controllable polarization states and orbital angular momentum

Optical vortices with tunable polarization states and topological charges are widely investigated in various physical systems and practical devices for high-capacity optical communication.However,this kind of structured light beams is usually generated using several polarization and spatial phase devices,which decreases the configurability of optical systems.Here,we have designed a kind of polarized optical multi-vortices generator based on the Stokes-Mueller formalism and cross-phase modulation.In our scheme,multi-channel generation of polarized vortex beams can be realized through a single optical element and a single-input Gaussian beam.The polarization states and orbital angular momentum of the generated light beams are all-optically controllable.Furthermore,the proposed polarized optical multi-vortices generator has also been demonstrated experimentally through one-step holographic recording in an azobenzene liquid-crystalline film and the experimental results agree with theoretical analysis.

Spatial light modulation for femtosecond laser manufacturing:Current developments and challenges

Since the invention of lasers,spatial-light-modulated laser processing has become a powerful tool for various applications.It enables multidimensional and dynamic modulation of the laser beam,which significantly improves the processing efficiency,accuracy,and flexibility,and presents wider prospects over traditional mechanical technologies for machining three-dimensional,hard,brittle,or transparent materials.In this review,we introduce:(1)The role of spatial light modulation technology in the development of femtosecond laser manufacturing;(2)the structured light generated by spatial light modulation and its generation methods;and(3)representative applications of spatial-light-modulated femtosecond laser manufacturing,including aberration correction,parallel processing,focal field engineering,and polarization control.Finally,we summarize the present challenges in the field and possible future research.

A high-contrast imaging coronagraph for segmented-mirror large aperture telescopes using a spatial light modulator

The primary mirrors of current and future large telescopes always employ a segmented mirror configuration.The small but non-negligible gaps between neighboring segments cause additional diffraction,which restricts the performance of high-contrast coronagraph.To solve this problem,we propose a coronagraph system based on a single liquid crystal spatial light modulator(SLM).This spatial light modulator is used for amplitude apodization,and its feasibility and potential performance are demonstrated using a laboratory setup using the stochastic parallel gradient descent(SPGD)algorithm to control the spatial light modulator,which is based on point spread function(PSF)sensing and evaluation and optimized for maximum contrast in the discovery working area as a merit function.The system delivers a contrast in the order of 10−6,and shows excellent potential to be used in current and future large aperture telescopes,both on the ground and in space.

Terahertz two-pixel imaging based on complementary compressive sensing

A compact terahertz（THz） imaging system based on complementary compressive sensing has been proposed using two single-pixel detectors. By using a mechanical spatial light modulator, sampling in the transmission and reflection orientations was achieved simultaneously, which allows imaging with negative mask values. The improvement of THz image quality and anti-noise performance has been verified experimentally compared with the traditional reconstructed image, and is in good agreement with the numerical simulation. The demonstrated imaging system, with the advantages of high imaging quality and strong anti-noise property, opens up possibilities for new applications in the THz region.