Spatial light modulator incorporating aberration correction
AssigneeII-Vi Delaware, Inc.
InventorsLuke STEWART, Glen W. BAXTER, Jeremy BOLGER
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Abstract
A spatial light modulator (100) comprises a liquid crystal material (104), first and second electrodes (106, 108) disposed on opposing sides of the liquid crystal material (104), and a diffractive optical element (120) disposed between the electrodes (106, 108) and extending laterally across the modulator (100). The diffractive optical element (120) comprises an array of diffracting formations (122) formed from sub-wavelength structures. The array of diffracting formations (122) defines a phase profile adapted to modify the incident wavefront of light reflected off the second electrode and to apply a position-dependent wavefront correction to the incident wavefront of light.
Claims21
A spatial light modulator comprising:
- a liquid crystal material;
- first and second electrodes disposed on opposing sides of the liquid crystal material and being configured to apply an electric potential across the liquid crystal material, the first electrode being at least partially transparent to allow passage of an incident wavefront of light into the liquid crystal material, the second electrode being reflective and being divided into a two-dimensional array of independently electrically controllable pixels that extend laterally across the spatial light modulator;
- and
- an array of structures disposed between the first and second electrodes and extending laterally across the spatial light modulator, wherein a dimension of the structures are sub-wavelength in at least a first lateral dimension,
- wherein the array of structures define a phase profile, the phase profile being configured to modify the incident wavefront of light reflected off the second electrode and being configured to apply a position-dependent wavefront correction to the incident wavefront of light.
A spatial light modulator comprising:
- a liquid crystal material;
- first and second electrodes disposed on opposing sides of the liquid crystal material and being configured to apply an electric potential across the liquid crystal material, the first electrode being at least partially transparent to allow passage of an incident wavefront of light into the liquid crystal material, the second electrode being reflective and being divided into a two-dimensional array of independently electrically controllable pixels that extend laterally across the spatial light modulator;
- and
- an array of structures disposed between the first and second electrodes and extending laterally across the spatial light modulator, where a dimension of the structures are sub-wavelength in at least a first lateral dimension wherein the array of structures define a phase profile, the phase profile being configured to modify the incident wavefront of light reflected off the second electrode and being configured to apply a position-dependent wavefront correction to the incident wavefront of light, wherein the two-dimensional array of independently electrically controllable pixels is partitioned into different spatial regions configured to perform independent switching.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.