Abstract

Ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) technology is ideally suited for the making of spatial light modulators (SLMs) because of its fast, low-voltage, low-power electrooptic effect. Its bistabilty and sharp dynamic threshold further make multiplexed addressing schemes attractive, promising SLMs with a large number of elements yet with an economical number of electronic drivers. We report here results of several implementations of the most common multiplexing scheme, “matrix addressing,” and point out several properties of the FLC materials that are likely to influence the performance of matrix-addressed SLMs.

© 1988 Optical Society of America