LIGHT MODULATOR FOR REPRESENTING COMPLEX-VALUED DATA

• Main Authors: SCHWERDTNER ARMIN, KROLL BO, LEISTER NORBERT
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Korean
• Published: 04.03.2010
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS, THE OPTICAL OPERATION OF WHICH ISMODIFIED BY CHANGING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM OF THEDEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF THE INTENSITY,COLOUR, PHASE, POLARISATION OR DIRECTION OF LIGHT, e.g.SWITCHING, GATING, MODULATING OR DEMODULATING; ELECTROGRAPHY; FREQUENCY-CHANGING; HOLOGRAPHIC PROCESSES OR APPARATUS; HOLOGRAPHY; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICS; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; TECHNIQUES OR PROCEDURES FOR THE OPERATION THEREOF

The invention relates to a light modulator for representing complex-valued data, comprising an encoding area that has an arrangement of pixels, the phase of which can be controlled. The aim of the invention is to largely avoid an interfering optical path difference between adjacent pixels or pixel groups when a complex value is encoded in several adjacent phase pixels of the encoding area, said optical path difference varying according to the angle. Said aim is achieved by associating one respective specific structured delaying layer which causes the optical path of an incident linearly polarized beam to change according to the angle, with at least one predefined pixel of a group of adjacent pixels of the encoding area (2). The thickness (d) of said delaying layer is designed such that the modification of the optical path caused by the delaying layer runs in the opposite direction from the angle-related modification of the optical path difference between individual pixels of the pixel group and at least partly or fully compensates the angle-related modification of the optical path difference.