OPTICAL BEAM STEERING AND SHAPING USING FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTAL SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS

ONE FACTOR LIMITING THE USE OF OPTICS IN APPLICATIONS SUCH AS COMMUNICATIONS, LASER RADAR, AND OPTICAL PROCESSING IS THE LACK OF A SATISFACTORY TECHNOLOGY FOR THE STEERING AND SHAPING OF OPTICAL BEAMS. SIMILAR PROBLEMS HAVE EXISTED FOR RADAR AND RADIO COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS. IN THOSE TECHNOLOGIES, HOWEVER, THE PROBLEMS HAVE LARGELY BEEN SOLVED BY THE USE OF PHASED ARRAY ANTENNA TECHNIQUES. DISPLAYTECH HAS DEMONSTRATED A HIGH SPEED ELECTRICALLY ADDRESSED SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR (SLM) CONTAINING BOTH A 64X64 ARRAY AND A 1X128 ARRAY WHICH MAY SERVE AS A PROTOTYPE OPLICAL PHASED ARRAY (OPA). THE SLM WAS BUILT BY JOINING FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS (FLCS), A FAST, LOW-VOLTAGE, LOW-POWER ELECTROOPTIC MATERIAL,WITH SILICON INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICS). THIS DEVICE HAS A 4.5 KHZ FRAME RATE, THEREFORE IT SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF STEERING A BEAM FROM ONE DIRECTION TO ANOTHER IN A TIME OF 220 US. IN THIS PHASE I WORK WE PROPOSE TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CURRENT DISPLAYTECH FLC-ICSLM USED AS AN OPA, IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP ALGORITHMS FOR BEAM FORMING AND STEERING, AND DO PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A MORE ADVANCED FLC-ICSLM OPTIMIZED FOR BEAM FORMING AND STEERING. THE AIM OF THE PHASE I WORK WILL BE TO PROVIDE A BASIS FOR THE FABRICATION OF MORE ADVANCED DEVICES IN PHASE II. ??????????