Holographic display with tilted spatial light modulator

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze a holographic display system utilizing a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) based on liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS). An LCoS SLM works in reflection, and, in some applications, it is convenient to use with an inclined illumination. Even with a highly inclined illumination, the holographic display is capable of good-quality image generation. We show that the key to obtain high-quality reconstructions is the tilt-dependent calibration and algorithms. Typically, an LCoS SLM is illuminated with a plane wave with normal wave vector. We use inclined illumination, which requires development of new algorithms and display characterization. In this paper we introduce two algorithms. The first one is designed to process a digital hologram captured in CCD normal configuration, so it can be displayed in SLM tilted geometry, while the second one is capable of synthetic hologram generation for tilted SLM configuration. The inclined geometry asymmetrically changes the field of view of a holographic display. The presented theoretical analysis of the aliasing effect provides a formula for the field of view as a function of SLM tilt. The incidence angle affects SLM performance. Both elements of SLM calibration, i.e., pixel phase response and wavefront aberrations, strongly depend on SLM tilt angle. The effect is discussed in this paper. All of the discussions are accompanied with experimental results.