News

25

2024-04

Fundamentals of phase-only liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) devices

This paper describes the fundamentals of phase-only liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) technology, which have not been previously discussed in detail. This technology is widely utilized in high efficiency applications for real-time holography and diffractive optics. The paper begins with a brief introduction on the developmental trajectory of phase-only LCOS technology, followed by the correct selection of liquid crystal (LC) materials and corresponding electro-optic effects in such devices. Attention is focused on the essential requirements of the physical aspects of the LC layer as well as the indispensable parameters for the response time of the device.Furthermore, the basic functionalities embedded in the complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) silicon backplane for phase-only LCOS devices are illustrated, including two typical addressing schemes. Finally, the application of phase-only LCOS devices in real-time holography will be introduced in association with the use of cutting-edge computer-generated holograms. Light: Science & Applications (2014) 3, e213; doi:10.1038/lsa.2014.94; published online 24 October 2014 Keywords: electro-optic effect; liquid crystal material; liquid crystal on silicon device; real-time holography

2024-04-25

Fundamentals of phase-only liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) devices

25

2024-04

Sub-millisecond switching of multi-level liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulators for increased information bandwidth

Abstract: Sub-millisecond response time with a refresh rate higher than 2000 frames per second (fps) and no degradation of the contrast ratio or diffraction efficiency is demonstrated in working liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulators (SLMs) with 8-bit grey levels of amplitude and phase modulations. This makes possible to achieve an information bandwidth of about 190 Gb s 1 with a 4k LCOS operating at 10-bit phase modulation levels. The normalised contrast stays at almost the unit level for a frame rate up to 1700 fps and at higher than 0.9 for 2500 fps. The diffraction efficiency stays above -1.0 dB for a frame rate up to 2400 fps. Such a fast response allows us to eliminate image blurring in replaying a fast movie. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

2024-04-25

Sub-millisecond switching of multi-level liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulators for increased information bandwidth

29

2024-02

Phase flicker in liquid crystal on silicon devices

This paper reviews the phase flicker associated with the phase-only liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) technology. The phase response of the LCOS device often fluctuates with the driving waveforms. Such phase flicker can cause detrimental effect in applications operating on either holographic or non-holographic principles. The origin of the phase flicker and its impact on the performances of various LCOS-based optical systems are explained. Methods to characterise the temporal response of the LCOS device will also be presented. The efforts to reduce the phase flicker in LCOS devices were reviewed. Perspectives on the future directions are also given.

2024-02-29

Phase flicker in liquid crystal on silicon devices

29

2024-02

High quality micro liquid crystal phase lenses for full resolution image steering in auto stereoscopic displays

The use of pixel-level tunable liquid crystal (LC) lenses to steer the images shown on a flat panel display in full resolution for auto stereoscopic applications was proposed. Micro lenticular LC lenses of different full widths ranging from 40 to 140 μm were designed and fabricated with laser patterned transparent ITO electrodes as narrow as 10 μm in width and two LC materials of high birefringence. Optical characterization of the lenses showed consistent parabolic phase profiles closely matched to that of ideal lenses. A proof-of-concept device with an array of tunable micro LC lenses each covers two sub-pixels of different colors was fabricated and applied on a standard computer monitor to confirm its capability of sub-pixel-level image steering.

2024-02-29

High quality micro liquid crystal phase lenses for full resolution image steering in auto stereoscopic displays

29

2024-02

Improvements of phase linearity and phase flicker of phase-only LCoS devices for holographic applications

Significant phase distortion corrections were achieved by optimizing the digital driving patterns of phase-only liquid crystal on silicon devices for digital holographic applications. Nearly perfect phase linearity and phase flicker of 0.09% over 256 addressed phase levels in respect to the total modulation range of 2𝜋 were realized, enabling a meaningful increase of phase levels from 8 bits (256 levels) to 9 bits (512 levels). Tests were carried out to evaluate the qualities of optically reconstructed holographic images with reduced phase flicker and optimized phase linearity, and an increase of 17.7% in the root-mean-square contrast was demonstrated.

2024-02-29

Improvements of phase linearity and phase flicker of phase-only LCoS devices for holographic applications

07

2024-02

CamOptics Wins 2023 Gusu Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leadership Talent Award

CamOptics （SuZhou) Co., Ltd. is an optoelectronics company dedicated to the research, development and manufacturing of silicon-based liquid crystal LCOS chips. Since the company was founded, it has been adhering to the concept of innovation-driven, providing professional and customized solutions for the fields of optical communications, laser processing, AR HUD and so on. Since its establishment, the company has received strong support from Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, Suzhou Venture Capital-Suzhou Industrial Technology Research Institute and Suzhou Industrial Park Leading Venture Capital.

2024-02-07

CamOptics Wins 2023 Gusu Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leadership Talent Award
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