Experimental optical wavefront manipulation using restructured DMD devices

Abstract

Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) are a popular choice for wavefront-shaping applications. We describe the restructuring of commercial digital light projectors to utilise their DMD for consistently replicable and budget-friendly diffraction and wavefront-shaping application experiments. Techniques for validating the optical parameters of DMDs are described. The experimental validation of the concept of the Fresnel zone plate using the set-up is discussed. We verified the experimental and simulated reconstruction of two dots and their Fourier transforms. We also describe the generation of orbital angular momentum states of light using the experimental set-up.