Abstract

Many emerging, high-speed, reconfigurable optical systems are limited by routing complexity when producing dynamic, two-dimensional (2D) electric fields. We propose a gradient-based inverse-designed, static phase-mask doublet to generate arbitrary 2D intensity wavefronts using a one-dimensional (1D) intensity spatial light modulator (SLM). We numerically simulate the capability of mapping each point in a 49 element 1D array to a distinct $7 \times 7$ 2D spatial distribution. Our proposed method will significantly relax the routing complexity of electrical control signals, possibly enabling high-speed, sub-wavelength 2D SLMs leveraging new materials and pixel architectures.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

Modulating complex beams in amplitude and phase using fast tilt-micromirror arrays and phase masks

Matthias Roth, Jörg Heber, and Klaus Janschek
Opt. Lett. 43(12) 2860-2863 (2018)

Compact vectorial optical field generator using a single phase-only spatial light modulator

Billy Lam and Chunlei Guo
Opt. Lett. 46(16) 3901-3904 (2021)

High-speed programmable lithium niobate thin film spatial light modulator

Xuanchao Ye, Fengchao Ni, Honggen Li, Haigang Liu, Yuanlin Zheng, and Xianfeng Chen
Opt. Lett. 46(5) 1037-1040 (2021)

Maskless fabrication of plasmonic metasurfaces in polymer film using a spatial light modulator

Mohammad H. Bitarafan, Shambhavee Annurakshita, Juha Toivonen, and Godofredo Bautista
Opt. Lett. 46(6) 1197-1200 (2021)

Thermocapillary dewetting-based dynamic spatial light modulator

Dylan A. Kovacevich, Tianxing Ma, Arielle R. Gamboa, Michael P. Nitzsche, Valeria Saro-Cortes, Emily Davis, and Jonathan P. Singer
Opt. Lett. 46(15) 3721-3724 (2021)