SILICON INTEGRATED CIRCUIT/FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTAL HYBRID SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS

THE PROPOSED WORK AIMS TO DEVELOP NOVEL, HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATORS (SLMS) BY JOINING FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS (FLCS), A FAST, LOW-VOLTAGE, LOW-POWER ELECTRO-OPTIC MATERIAL, WITH SILICON INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ISC). THE RESULTING SLMS MAY BE EITHER ELECTRONICALLY OR OPTICALLY ADDRESSED, HAVE FRAME RATES FROM 10 KHZ (PRESENT) TO 10 MHZ (FUTURE), AND CAN BE USED TO MODULATE OPTICAL INTENSITY, POLARIZATION, OR PHASE, ALL WITH HIGH THROUGHPUT. THE IC TECHNOLOGY IS ALREADY MATURE, ALLOWING SCALE-UP TO SLMS WITH LARGE NUMBERS OF ELEMENTS (512 X 512) TO OCCUR IN THE NEAR TERM, AND AT LOW COST. THE PHASE I WORK WILL DEMONSTRATE A CONCEPT-PROVING ELECTRICALLY ADDRESSED SLM WITH A 10 KHZ FRAME RATE AND UP TO 256K ELEMENTS. DURING PHASE II, FULL-SCALE CUSTOM ICS AND IMPROVE FLC MATERIALS WILL BE DEVELOPED, INCREASING THE NUMBER OF ELEMENTS AND FRAME RATE, AND PERMITTING SENSITIVE OPTICAL ADDRESSING.