Phase Modulation Characteristics Analysis of Optically-Addressed Parallel-Aligned Nematic Liquid Crystal Phase-Only Spatial Light Modulator Combined with a Liquid Crystal Display

Phase compensation is a critical step for the optical measuring system using spatial light modulator (SLM). The wavefront distortion from SLM is mainly caused by the phase modulation non-linearity and non-uniformity of SLM’s physical structure and environmental conditions. A phase modulation characteristic calibration and compensation method for liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator (LCoS-SLM) with a Twyman-Green interferometer is illustrated in this study. A method using two sequences of phase maps is proposed to calibrate the non-uniformity character over the whole aperture of LCoS-SLM at pixel level. A phase compensation matrix is calculated to correct the actual phase modulation of the LCoS-SLM and ensure that the designed wavefront could be achieved. Compared with previously known compensation methods, the proposed method could obtain the phase modulation characteristic curve of each pixel on the LCoS-SLM, rather than a mono look-up table (LUT) curve or multi-LUT curves corresponding to an array of blocks over the whole aperture of the LCoS-SLM. The experiment results show that the phase compensation precision could reach a peak-valley value of 0.061λ in wavefront and this method can be applied in generating freeform wave front for precise optical performance.

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Optimal trap velocity in a dynamic holographic optical trap using a nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator

Journal of Optics ◽

10.1088/2040-8986/ac4b19 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Karuna Sindhu Malik ◽

Bosanta Ranjan Boruah

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystal ◽

Nematic Liquid Crystal ◽

Spatial Light Modulator ◽

Optical Trap ◽

Optical Element ◽

Optical Traps ◽

Light Modulator ◽

Step Size ◽

Microscopic Object ◽

Optimal Velocity

Abstract A dynamic holographic optical trap uses a dynamic diffractive optical element such as a liquid crystal spatial light modulator to realize one or more optical traps with independent controls. Such holographic optical traps provide a number of flexibilities and conveniences useful in various applications. One key requirement for such a trap is the ability to move the trapped microscopic object from one point to the other with the optimal velocity. In this paper we develop a nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator based holographic optical trap and experimentally investigate the optimal velocity feasible for trapped beads of different sizes, in such a trap. Our results show that the achievable velocity of the trapped bead is a function of size of the bead, step size, interval between two steps and power carried by the laser beam. We observe that the refresh rate of a nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulator is sufficient to achieve an optimal velocity approaching the theoretical limit in the respective holographic trap for beads with radius larger than the wavelength of light.

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