Liquid crystal lasers: potential light source for holographic imaging

Abstract

In this work we install liquid crystal lasers into an optical setup as the light sources for generating holographic images. The replayed images of the liquid crystal laser beam modulated by a spatial light modulator (SLM) are captured by a monochrome camera to analyze the image performances, including contrast-to-noise ratio and speckle contrast. Two alternative lasers, a gas He-Ne laser and a solid state laser, are also installed in the optical path to show their replayed images from the SLM. The generated holographic images using these lasers as light sources are compared to demonstrate the potential of liquid crystals for holographic imaging applications.