Use of polar decomposition of Mueller matrices for optimizing the phase response of a liquid-crystal-on-silicon display.
We provide experimental measurement of the Mueller matrices corresponding to an on-state liquid-crystal-on-silicon display as a function of the addressed voltage. The polar decomposition of the Mueller matrices determines the polarization properties of the device in terms of a diattenuation, a retardance and a depolarization effect. Although the diattenuation effect is shown to be negligible for the display, the behavior of the degree of polarization as a function of the input polarization state shows a maximum coupling of linearly polarized light into unpolarized light of about 10%. Concerning the retardation effect, we find that the display behaves as a retarder with a fast-axis orientation and a retardance angle that are voltage-dependent. The above decomposition provides a convenient framework to optimize the optical response of the display for achieving a phase-mostly modulation regime. To this end, the display is sandwiched between a polarization state generator and a polarization state analyzer. Laboratory results for a commercial panel show a phase modulation depth of 360 masculine at 633 nm with a residual intensity variation lower than 6 %.
Clemente
P
P
Servei Central d'Instrumentació Científica, Universitat Jaume I, E12080 Castelló, Spain.
Durán
V
V
Martínez-León
Ll
L
Climent
V
V
Tajahuerce
E
E
Lancis
J
J
D000465:Algorithms; D016288:Computer Terminals; D003626:Data Display; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008029:Lighting / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects