Complex phase/amplitude spatial light modulator advances and use in a multispectral optical correlator

Optical processing systems often require compact high frame rate spatial light modulators (SLMs), usually with application specific modulation requirements in the complex plane. In this paper we discuss several advances at Boulder Nonlinear Systems toward this goal, including our liquid crystal (LC) on VLSI 128 X 128 analog SLM, and our multispectral hybrid incoherent to coherent converter.We also present the analysis of optical modulation possibilities when utilizing zero twist nematic and planar aligned chiral smectic LC on a reflective backplane. Finally we present the design of a multispectral optical correlator for machine vision applications such as food inspection, security, or manufacturing inspection.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.