Paraelectric Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulator Structures

THERE ARE NO SPATIAL MODULATORS (SLMs) AVAILABLE THAT OFFER HIGH FRAMING RATE (MHz), VARIABLE GRAY SCALE, HIGH CONTRAST, AND LOW-VOLTAGE OPERATION SIMULTANEOUSLY. BASED ON PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED AT THE NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY, IT APPEARS THAT A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM COULD LIE IN PARAELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS THAT EXHIBIT THE ELECTROCLINIC EFFECT. WE THEREFORE PROPOSE IN THIS PHASE I PROGRAM TO COLLABORATE WITH RESEARCHERS AT NRL WHO ARE SYNTHESIZING SUCH SMECTIC-A PARAELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS, AND EXPLORE THE ELECTRICAL, THERMAL, AND LIGHT MODULATION PROPERTIES OF THESE MATERIALS IN SIMPLE SLM STRUCTURERS. IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE SLM BUILT IN THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL DEMONSTRATE FRAMING SPEEDS ON EXCESS OF 1 KHz, CONTRAST RATIOS OF ABOUT 100:1, AND AT LEAST 6 BITS OF GRAY SCALE IN THE PHASE I PROGRAM.