Holographic three-dimensional displays with liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator

Abstract

One of the ways to achieve 3D objects visualization is holography. The recent progress of CCD/CMOS cameras provides quick development of digital holographic recording. Optoelectronic reconstruction of digital holograms can be realized by means of variety of spatial light modulators, however each of them suffers several limitations due to big pixel size, low diffraction efficiency and noise. In the paper high efficiency liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) spatial light modulator is proposed as the novel solution for optoelectronic holographic reconstruction. The system for holograms reconstruction based on LCOS is presented. The results of initial experiments on reconstruction of computer generated and digital holograms of different classes of 2D and 3D objects are shown and discussed. The problems connected with limited resolution of the recording (CCD) and reconstruction (LCOS) devices are considered. The comparison of the results obtained by numerical and optoelectronic reconstruction of digital holograms is presented, together with a discussion of the limitations and further possibilities of these techniques.