Complex spatial light modulation capability of a dual layer in-plane switching liquid crystal panel

Abstract

Complex spatial light modulator (SLM), which can simultaneously control the amplitude and phase of light waves, is a key technology for wide-range of wave-optic technologies including holographic three-dimensional displays. This paper presents a flat panel complex spatial light modulator that consists of dual in-plane switching liquid crystal panels with double-degrees of freedom of voltage inputs. The proposed architecture features single-pixel level complex light modulation enabling complex light modulation in entire free space, which is most contrast to conventional macro-pixel based complex modulation techniques. Its complex light modulation capability is verified with theoretical simulation and experimental characterization, and a three-dimensional holographic image reconstruction without conjugate noise. It is believed that the proposed flat panel complex SLM can be an essential device for a wide range of advanced wave optic technologies.

Waveguide Holography: Towards True 3D Holographic Glasses

“…Such redundancies can be reduced to shrink down the size and computation load of the model. Additionally, the system can take advantage of advanced features of SLM such as high framerate or complex modulation capability 57 . Several studies have recently reported that utilization of temporal multiplexing helps speckle reduction and image quality enhancement 48,58 .…”

Complex RGB spatial light modulation with a dual-layer in-plane switching liquid crystal panel

“…A simple Jones matrix method is employed to describe the characteristics of the transmitted light. 13,16,17) The transmission characteristics of a single pixel of the dual-layer IPS SLM are described by…”

“…For the amplitude CGH ( ) A x y , experiment, the value of ( ) A x y , is input into a single IPS SLM. 13) Figure 4 presents the numerical simulation and experimental results of the designed far-field CGH.…”

“…12) Recently, a dual-layer in-plane switching (IPS) SLM for the single-pixel complex light modulation of monochromatic optical wave fields has been presented. 13) However, even if a modulation method achieves full-color complex light modulation, multiple SLMs would be needed in practice to realize a full-color display because of the highly wavelength-dependent modulation characteristics of single SLMs, thus leading to bulky systems. 14,15) Therefore, the full-color operation of a single SLM poses a design challenge.…”