A Light Modulator Technology for Spatio-Temporal Coherence Control

一种用于时空相干控制的光调制器技术

• 批准号: EP/W022567/1
• 负责人: Stephen Morris
• 金额: $ 105.62万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW022567%2F1
• 关键词: Light; Modulator; Technology; Spatio; Temporal

The spatio-temporal coherence characteristics of a light source are of critical importance in a range of applications including:1) The formation of microscopic images in high-resolution imaging systems;2) The propagation of signals through atmospheric turbulent conditions in free-space optical communications;3) The quality of images generated in projection and augmented reality/virtual reality displays;4) Beam propagation in laser manufacturing and material processing;5) Optical Trapping;6) Imaging through turbulent media;7) Holography;8) Optical trapping; and9) Non-line of sight imaging - 'seeing around corners'. For many applications it would be advantageous if one could exert a level of control over the spatio-temporal coherence characteristics of the light source in a programmable way so that it could be precisely tailored to any of the applications outlined above. Conventional laser sources typically exhibit a high level of coherence. However, depending on the application, high spatial and/or temporal coherence is not always desirable. Even though it is possible to control the spatial and temporal coherence of incoherent light sources through spatial or spectral filtering, they are still fundamentally different from a laser which exhibits poissonian photon statistics, rather than Bose-Einstein photon statistics. Furthermore, for many of the applications listed above, incoherent sources are either not suitable or they exhibit other properties, such as reduced spectral control and poorer collection efficiency, which makes them unattractive.A rudimentary level of control of the spatio-temporal characteristics can be achieved using off-the-shelf technologies, but these tend to be less than ideal as they involve mechanically-moving components, are not scalable, and offer limited control of the degree of coherence. In general, they do not provide analogue control nor are they compatible with a pixelated device architecture, which would enable precise control of the coherence across the beam. To truly revolutionise the applications described above, and to take full advantage of the benefits of partial-coherence, an as-yet-unrealised level control of the spatio-temporal characteristics is required. The development of a disruptive new technology that would offer fine control of the spatio-temporal characteristics would be an extremely exciting prospect for both academic researchers and industrialists working in the fields of biomedical imaging, communications, AR/VR projection displays, and 3d laser manufacturing. Moreover, as a disruptive new technology it would have considerable impact both in terms of enabling new scientific discoveries in applied optics as well as promoting technological breakthroughs in biomedical, display, and communication engineering. The key objective of this proposal to develop a new photonics technology that would offer unprecedented control of the spatio-temporal characteristics of a laser source. This new technology will be designed and developed to be readily deployable in a range of applications, and it will be electrically addressable and pixelated so that the coherence properties can be altered independently across the light beam, leading to radically new behaviour and characteristics. The technology will be based upon electrically-responsive soft matter. The research proposed herein offers a unique opportunity to create a disruptive world-leading coherence modulator technology that could have far-reaching impact both scientifically and commercially in applications ranging from imaging to free-space visible communications. A secondary benefit of this project is that the development of this transformative technology would provide us with an exceptionally powerful tool with which to study the properties of optical coherence.

光源的时空连贯性特征在一系列应用中至关重要，包括：1）高分辨率成像系统中显微镜图像的形成； 2）信号通过自由空间光学通信中的大气湍流条件传播信号； 3）在预测和增强现实中产生的图像的质量；在预测和增强现实中，liveal offialter offortial offortiate;捕获; 6）通过湍流介质成像； 7）全息图； 8）光学诱捕；和9）视觉成像的非线 - “围绕角落看到”。对于许多应用程序，如果可以以可编程方式对光源的时空连贯性特征进行一定程度的控制，那么它可以精确地针对上面概述的任何应用程序量身定制。常规激光源通常表现出高水平的连贯性。但是，根据应用的不同，高空间和/或时间连贯性并不总是可取的。即使可以通过空间或光谱滤波来控制不一致的光源的空间和时间连贯性，但它们仍然与表现出泊松光子统计的激光器根本不同，而不是Bose-Einstein光子统计。此外，对于上面列出的许多应用，不连贯的来源要么不合适，要么表现出其他特性，例如降低的光谱控制和较差的收集效率，这使得它们没有吸引力。对时空的控制水平可以使用限制的机制来实现时空的特征，但这些机构往往会限制，而不是理想的机构，而不是理想的机构，而不是理想的方法。连贯性。通常，它们不提供模拟控制，也不与像素化的设备结构兼容，这将可以精确控制整个光束的连贯性。为了真正彻底改变上述应用程序，并充分利用了部分稳态的好处，需要对时空特征进行尚未实现的级别控制。对于学术研究人员和在生物医学成像，通信，AR/VR投影显示和3D激光制造业领域工作的学术研究人员和工业家来说，一项可很好地控制时空特征的破坏性新技术的开发将是一个非常令人兴奋的前景。此外，作为一种破坏性的新技术，在实现应用光学的新科学发现以及促进生物医学，展示和通信工程中的技术突破方面，都会产生重大影响。该提案开发一种新的光子技术的主要目标，该技术将对激​​光源的时空特征提供前所未有的控制。这项新技术将经过设计和开发，可在一系列应用中易于部署，并且它将是电气地寻址和像素化的，以便可以在光束上独立改变相干性能，从而导致根本的新行为和特征。该技术将基于电响应的软物质。本文提出的研究提供了一个独特的机会，可以创建一种破坏性的世界领先的连贯调制器技术，该技术在从成像到自由空间可见通信的应用中都可能在科学和商业上产生深远的影响。该项目的次要好处是，这种变革性技术的开发将为我们提供一种非常强大的工具来研究光学连贯性的特性。

项目成果

Zwitterion-doped liquid crystal speckle reducers for immersive displays and vectorial imaging.

• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-023-01265-5
• 发表时间: 2023-09-22
• 期刊: LIGHT-SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS
• 影响因子: 19.4
• 作者: Jin, Yihan;Spiller, Nathan P.;He, Chao;Faulkner, Grahame;Booth, Martin J.;Elston, Steve J.;Morris, Stephen M.
• 通讯作者: Morris, Stephen M.