LCOS Spatial Light Modulator for Digital Holography

Abstract

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulator (SLM) is the most widely used optical engine for digital holography. This paper aims to provide an overview of the applications of phase-only LCOS in two-dimensional (2D) holography. It begins with a brief introduction to the holography theory along with its development trajectory, followed by the fundamental operating principle of phase-only LCOS SLMs. Hardware performance of LCOS SLMs (in terms of frame rate, phase linearity and flicker) and related experimental results are presented. Finally, potential improvements and applications are discussed for futuristic holographic displays. Full Text: PDF ReferencesM. Wolfke, Physikalische Zeitschrift 21, 495 (1920). DirectLink D. Gabor, "A New Microscopic Principle", Nature 161, 777 (1948). CrossRef H. Haken, "Laser Theory", Light and Matter 5, 14 (1970). CrossRef S. Benton, "Selected Papers on Three-dimensional displays", SPIE Press (2001). DirectLink X. 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Towards a solid‐state light detection and ranging system using holographic illumination and time‐of‐flight image sensing

“…Recently, LCoS SLMs with sub-millisecond refresh rates have been demonstrated. 22,23 The above observations highlight the "in principle" performance advantage of our flexible illumination system over typical alternatives. It is worth noting that our system is scalable.…”

“…A limit to the update rate of the illumination pattern in our approach is set by the modulation speed of the SLM. Recently, LCoS SLMs with sub‐millisecond refresh rates have been demonstrated 22,23 …”

Characterization of MEMS piston mirror arrays with comb drive actuator

“…Although there are commercial SLMs already available on the market, none of them fully meet the high requirements of holographic displays. Liquid Cristal on Silicon (LCoS) devices, for example, allow phase modulation in analog mode but they fail to achieve the desired high frame rate due to longer settling times, typically in the range of hundreds of microseconds or even milliseconds [9]. They also suffer from significant non-linearity [10], strong crosstalk between neighboring pixels and phase flicker (temporal fluctuation of their phase response), which are critical aspects for holographic purposes [11].…”

MEMS-on-CMOS integration of a holographic 8M-pixel SLM device using KrF-lithography

“…An SLM, which is suitable for holographic application needs to provide a precise multilevel phase control of coherent light with sufficient precision and high frame rates. Commercial SLMs already available are often Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) devices [2]. In the REALHOLO project [3], funded within the EU Framework program Horizon 2020, we take another approach by using a Micro-Mirror-Array (MMA), which offers the potential for significantly better performance than LCoS.…”