Abstract

Optically addressed spatial light modulators (OSLM) are an important component for the implementation of massively parallel high performance opto-electronic computers. Such devices are particularly useful for applications such as optical logic and memory, wavelength and coherence transformations and 2-D filtering. The technology which combines silicon for detection and computation and electro-optic PLZT (Pb_0.9La_0.1 [Zr_0.65Ti_0.35]_0.9750₃) for optical modulation allows the realization of such SLMs. These two materials combine the computational power of silicon and the parallel communication capability of optics. In this paper we report the successful fabrication of 2 × 2 OSLM arrays using polycrystalline silicon deposited on a PLZT substrate. We detail the device design considerations, describe the experimental techniques utilized and discuss the resulting OSLM performance.

© 1988 Optical Society of America