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High precision beam steering using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator

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Abstract

Liquid crystal spatial light modulators (LCSLMs) are novel phase modulation devices. Due to the dielectric properties of the orientation layer, the orientation layer has a voltage division effect on the driving voltage. A more effective analysis of the relationship between the driving voltage and phase modulation properties of LCSLMs is needed, as well as improved beam steering accuracy. In this paper, we establish an electrical model of an LCSLM, and propose a method for quantitatively calculating the liquid crystal (LC) layer voltage. This differential iterative method based on nonlinear least squares is used to analyze the LC molecular directors. Considering the thickness of the orientation layer, we calculate the LC director distribution and the voltage division effect of the LC layer, obtaining a more accurate electro-optic characteristic curve of the LCSLM, and verify the calculations by experiment. Experimentally, the average beam pointing error of the LCSLM was 0.0098° at 532 nm, representing a significant improvement of the beam steering accuracy.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the National Defense Basic Research Program Project of China(JCKY-2016411C006), and Jilin Province Advanced Control Technology and Intelligent Automation Equipment R&D Engineering Lab.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, 130022, China

    Qifeng Niu & Chunyang Wang

  2. Information Perception and Control Institute, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Chunyang Wang

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  1. Qifeng Niu
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  2. Chunyang Wang
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Correspondence to Chunyang Wang.

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Niu, Q., Wang, C. High precision beam steering using a liquid crystal spatial light modulator. Opt Quant Electron 51, 180 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-019-1858-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-019-1858-0

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