ABSTRACT
The possibility of using ferroelectric liquid-crystal optically addressed spatial light modulators to transfer images from silicon backplane devices is investigated. We propose a drive scheme for optically addressed spatial light modulators to perform digital-to-analog image conversion based on the speed performances of current and future silicon backplane devices and on temporal averaging. The validity of the drive scheme is experimentally demonstrated with a LED used to encode the gray levels, and we discuss the performance of the display system.
ABSTRACT
Ferroelectric liquid crystals can be optimized for speed, but such materials tend to have small switching angles and consequently low contrast in the smectic A(*) phase. We describe a method whereby such a low-contrast but fast-switching effect can be enhanced, in theory giving the same contrast as a material with a switching angle of 22.5 degrees . This method therefore promises liquid-crystal modulators of high contrast and with speeds of the order of hundreds of nanoseconds. The theoretical basis of this method and initial results that support this analysis are presented.
