Abstract

The phase modulating properties of spatial light modulators have been investigated for optical pattern recognition purposes for many years. Researchers have attempted to exploit these properties for phase-only matched filtering and optical associative memories. Early investigations of LCTVs for these applications found that a liquid gate was required because of the nonuniform glass sandwich structure of the devices. Interferometric techniques were recently utilized to investigate the surface uniformity of several commercially available SLMs. These results, to be presented in this communication, verify that the optical uniformity of SLMs should be considered when phase modulating properties of the devices are to be exploited in optical systems.

© 1992 Optical Society of America