Optical phase adder
US5258860A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 13, 1991 |
| Grant date | Nov 2, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 13, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG03H2260/36
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A photosensitive element 46 absorbs at least a portion of an incident write beam 40, causing a spatially varying electric field to be applied across a layer of a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) 48, thereby forming a pattern of local polarizations corresponding to the spatially varying electric field. In one embodiment, a signal beam is modulated with a phase variation characteristic of a particular aberrator. The signal beam is then combined with a substantially plane wave reference beam to form interference fringes. These interference fringes are directed as a write beam onto photosensitive layer 46, forming a hologram in FLC layer 48 which can be read optically. An incident beam of light can be diffracted by a hologram formed in the FLC layer, thereby modulating the incident beam of light with the phase variations comprising the hologram. In a preferred embodiment, the phase characteristics of an aberrator 76 are recorded as a hologram in an optically addressed spatial light modulator 10 and that hologram may be used to remove aberrations from an incident probe beam 83 that was modulated by aberrator 76. In a preferred embodiment, a large portion of the incident probe beam 82 …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.