High speed spatial light modulators with analogue phase control for next generation imaging, photonics, and laser manufacturing

液晶（LC）技术已成为显示器市场的主导力量。到目前为止，大量的研究和开发都集中在优化显示器的LC材料特性上;然而，如果LC技术用于调制光的相位而不是强度，那么越来越多的其他非显示器应用可以受益于LC技术。具体而言，基于LC技术的动态光学元件可以快速调制相位并具有模拟控制，这在下一代自适应光学（AO）的开发中具有重要意义，用于一系列需要像差校正和/或动态平行化的技术。在显微镜、光学镊子、全息投影和激光加工等领域，使用AO已经取得了显著的进展。例如，AO正在通过补偿像差来扩展生物医学显微镜的能力，从而能够在厚的甚至活的组织标本中成像生物过程。这样的研究现在正在扩展到超分辨率显微镜，它揭示了低于衍射极限一个数量级的细胞结构。AO设备还用于光遗传学和光激活，其中需要以高速重新配置3D光场，以便可以选择性地激活特定细胞。因此，新的和改进的LC设备将使一系列研究成为生命和医学科学的基础。同样，用于光学纳米制造的超快激光器的自适应控制将大大受益于新的LC技术，允许实现高速脉冲整形和并行化，支持高价值制造的未来发展。在所有这些应用中使用动态光学元件（例如LC装置）的潜力得到充分证实，但当前性能受到显示型装置的切换速度和/或相位调制能力的限制。提高设备速度将满足这些应用尚未满足的需求，并可能在所有这些应用领域产生更大的影响。此外，具有模拟相位控制的新型快速开关SLM的开发可能为尚未实现的新应用空间铺平道路。

Liquid crystal (LC) technology has become a dominant force in the displays market. To date, a lot of research and development has been focussed in optimising the LC material properties for displays; however, there are an increasing number of other non-display applications that could benefit from LC technology if it were used to modulate the phase of the light rather than its intensity. Specifically, a dynamic optical element based upon LC technology that can modulate the phase rapidly and with analogue control will be of significant importance in the development of next-generation adaptive optics (AO) for a range of technologies whereby aberration correction and/or dynamic parallelisation are required. Notable advances have already been made using AO in areas such as microscopy, optical tweezing, holographic projection, and laser machining. For example, AO is expanding the capabilities of biomedical microscopy by enabling imaging of biological process in thick and even live tissue specimens, through compensation of aberrations. Such research is now being extended to super-resolution microscopy, which reveals cellular structures an order of magnitude lower than the diffraction limit. AO devices are also used for opto-genetics and photo-activation, where it is necessary to reconfigure 3D light fields at high speeds so that specific cells can be selectively activated. New and improved LC devices would therefore enable a range of research that underpins the life and medical sciences. Equally, adaptive control of ultra-fast lasers for optical nano-fabrication would benefit considerably from new LC technology, allowing pulse shaping and parallelisation at high speeds to be realised, supporting future advances in high-value manufacturing. The potential of using dynamic optical elements, such as LC devices, in all of these applications is well substantiated, but current performance is constrained by the switching speeds and/or phase modulation capabilities of the display-type devices. Increasing device speed will satisfy an as-yet unmet demand from these applications and could enable a greater impact in all of these application areas. Moreover, the development of a new fast-switching SLM with analogue phase control may potentially pave the way to new application spaces that are yet to be realised.