Transmission variations in liquid crystal spatial light modulators caused by interference and diffraction effects

Jeffrey A. Davis; Philbert S. Tsai; Don M. Cottrell; Tomio Sonehara; Jun Amako

doi:10.1117/1.602149

1 June 1999 Transmission variations in liquid crystal spatial light modulators caused by interference and diffraction effects

Jeffrey A. Davis, Philbert S. Tsai, Don M. Cottrell, Tomio Sonehara, Jun Amako

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 38, Issue 6, (June 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.602149

We report on the characteristics of a newly developed high- resolution (640x480 pixels) parallel-aligned liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCSLM) as a function of wavelength. phase-only operation over a range of 2? rad is easily achieved by operating at shorter wavelengths. We also measure an unexpected effect?the transmitted light intensity changes with applied voltage. Our experiments show that thin- film interference and pixel diffraction effects are responsible for this observed behavior. The diffraction effect is caused by a nonuniform electric field across each pixel. This nonuniform electric field introduces a blazing effect that changes the intensity distribution in the various diffracted orders as a function of applied voltage. These same kinds of effects have been observed with several other twisted-nematic LCSLMs. Because of the complicated polarization effects caused by these twisted-nematic liquid crystal devices, however, the diffraction and interference effects are more easily studied using the parallel-aligned LCSLM.

Citation Download Citation

Jeffrey A. Davis, Philbert S. Tsai, Don M. Cottrell, Tomio Sonehara, and Jun Amako "Transmission variations in liquid crystal spatial light modulators caused by interference and diffraction effects," Optical Engineering 38(6), (1 June 1999). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.602149

Published: 1 June 1999

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available