Liquid crystal device, optical system, spatial phase modulator, and method of manufacturing liquid crystal device

An optical system for a laser processing use, the system comprising:

• a light source;
• a controller;
• and
• a spatial phase modulator configured, by being controlled by the controller, to phase-modulate laser light input from the light source so as to generate a phase-modulated light corresponding to an image that is created on a processing-target surface and to output the phase-modulated laser light,
• the laser light being high-energy pulsed light to form a non-temporary image on the processing-target surface,
• the optical system being configured to process the processing-target surface by irradiation of the phase-modulated light on the processing-target surface,
• the spatial phase modulator being a liquid crystal device, the liquid crystal device comprising:
• a liquid crystal layer;
• and
• an electrode layer configured to create an electric field in the liquid crystal layer,
• wherein the liquid crystal layer includes a liquid crystal composition in which an organic compound having a property of inhibiting a polymerization reaction caused by light action is added to a liquid crystal mixture as a polymerization inhibitor, and
• wherein the liquid crystal composition includes 3 wt. % to 20 wt. % of the polymerization inhibitor.