Abstract

We present the physical structure of and experimental results on a photovoltaic optically addressed spatial light modulator (OASLM), which does not need the externally applied electric field. This device consists of an amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photosensor and a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) light modulator. The photosensor is composed of a stack of four p-i-n photodiodes. The thickness of each photodiode is optimized so that each one absorbs the same fraction of incident He-Ne laser light. The liquid crystal in this device is a 1-µm thick layer of SCE-13 FLC (British Drug Houses).

© 1991 Optical Society of America