Investigation of liquid crystal spatial light modulators to simulate speckle fields

Date of Award

2010

Degree Name

M.S. in Electro-Optics

Department

Department of Electro-Optics and Photonics

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Edward Watson

Abstract

We investigate liquid crystal spatial light modulators as a means to simulate the speckle fields produced by laser light scattering off of rough surfaces. Of primary interest was the ability of these devices to accurately simulated the statistical properties of speckle fields. Characterization of the liquid crystal spatial light modulators was performed and a look-up table was created that specified the required voltage for a desired phased on a pixel-by-pixel basis. A model was created to simulate the field leaving the device and the resulting irradiance distribution in the far field. The 2nd and 4th moments of the field at the observation plane were calculated to determine the mean irradiance and contrast of the speckle pattern. Two random phase distributions that create the speckle patterns were investigated. These distributions were uniform phase distribution and wrapped" Gaussian phase distribution. It was found that the devices are unable to simulate spatially stationary irradiance and contrast. Experimental investigations showed good agreement with the theoretical data except where [sigma] < 0.1[pi]."

Keywords

Laser speckle Simulation methods, Liquid crystal devices, Gaussian distribution, Laser beams Scattering

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2010, author

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