High Precision Optical Wavefront Generation Using Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulator (LC-SLM)

LC-SLM provides a flexible way to modulate the phase of light with the help of a grayscale pattern loaded on it. Nevertheless, the modulated phase profile is of relatively low accuracy due to the nonlinear and nonuniform response of the liquid crystal layer in the SLM. To improve the performance of LC-SLM on the wavefront generation, the nonlinear and nonuniform phase response needs to be calibrated and compensated effectively. In this chapter, we present some state-of-art methods to measure the phase modulation curve of the LC-SLM. Some methods to measure the static aberration caused by the backplane of the LC-SLM are then presented. Last but not the least, the future development of the LC-SLM in phase modulation is also presented.