Electro-optical light modulator

An electrically drivable light modulator comprising:

• at least two liquid crystal layers for enclosing between at least two transparent plates having a surface anisotropy for orienting molecules of the at least two liquid crystal layers and having electrodes for generating an electric field in the at least two liquid crystal layers;
• wherein:
• the at least two liquid crystal layers include helical, smectic ferroelectric liquid crystals, whose fast optical axes and slow optical axes, respectively, are disposed in parallel with a respective one of the at least two liquid crystal layers, and whose average optical anisotropy is influenceable by an action of the electric field;
• the at least two liquid crystal layers are situated one behind another for being in a path of rays of a light beam to be modulated;
• and
• directions of the fast optical axes and slow optical axes, respectively, of the at least two liquid crystal layers are rotated relative to one another so that a polarization upstream of the light beam is the same as a polarization downstream of the light beam;
• wherein the at least two liquid crystal layers include a first layer and a second layer and are situated one behind another so that:
• a first slow optical axis of the first layer is normal to a second slow optical axis of the second layer;
• a first fast optical axis of the first layer is normal to a second fast optical axis of the second layer;
• and
• an orientation of the first slow optical axis and the first fast optical axis of the first layer and of the second slow optical axis and the second fast optical axis of the second layer in relation to one another is retained at all times when a control voltage is applied and varied.

An adaptive optical device comprising:

• a field of light modulators being configured in a raster-type array and being for situating in a path of rays, each of the light modulators being drivable for compensating for unsharpness occurring on a point-by-point basis of an image to be processed, and each of the light modulators including:
• at least two liquid crystal layers for enclosing between at least two transparent plates having a surface anisotropy for orienting molecules of the at least two liquid crystal layers and having electrodes for generating an electric field in the at least two liquid crystal layers, wherein:
• the at least two liquid crystal layers include helical, smectic ferroelectric liquid crystals, whose fast optical axes and slow optical axes, respectively, are disposed in parallel with a respective one of the at least two liquid crystal layers, and whose average optical anisotropy is influenceable by an action of the electric field;
• the at least two liquid crystal layers are situated one behind another for being in a path of rays of a light beam to be modulated;
• and
• directions of the fast optical axes and slow optical axes, respectively, of the at least two liquid crystal layers are rotated relative to one another so as to maintain that a polarization of the light beam upstream of the modulator is the same as a polarization of the light beam downstream of the modulator.