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.

光源的时空相干特性在一系列应用中至关重要，包括：1)在高分辨率成像系统中形成微观图像；2)在自由空间光通信中信号在大气湍流条件下的传播；3)在投影和增强现实/虚拟现实显示器中产生的图像的质量；4)激光制造和材料加工中的光束传播；5)光学陷阱；6)通过湍流介质成像；7)全息照相；8)光学陷阱；以及9)非视线成像--“转角观察”。对于许多应用，如果能够以可编程的方式对光源的时空相干特性施加一定程度的控制，从而可以针对上述任何应用精确地定制光源，将是有利的。传统的激光光源通常表现出很高的相干性。然而，根据应用的不同，高的空间和/或时间一致性并不总是可取的。尽管可以通过空间或光谱滤波来控制非相干光源的空间和时间相干性，但它们仍然与呈现泊松光子统计而不是玻色-爱因斯坦光子统计的激光有根本的不同。此外，对于上面列出的许多应用，非相干源要么不适合，要么表现出其他特性，例如降低的频谱控制和较差的收集效率，这使得它们不具吸引力。使用现成的技术可以实现对时空特性的基本控制，但这些技术往往不太理想，因为它们涉及机械移动的组件，不可扩展，并且对相干程度的控制有限。一般来说，它们不提供模拟控制，也不与像素化设备架构兼容，这将使能够精确控制光束的相干性。为了真正改变上述应用，并充分利用部分相干的好处，需要对时空特性进行尚未实现的水平控制。对于在生物医学成像、通信、AR/VR投影显示器和3D激光制造领域工作的学术研究人员和实业家来说，开发一种能够精确控制时空特征的颠覆性新技术将是一个非常令人兴奋的前景。此外，作为一项颠覆性的新技术，它将在促进应用光学领域的新科学发现以及推动生物医学、显示和通信工程的技术突破方面产生相当大的影响。这项提议的主要目标是开发一种新的光子学技术，该技术将提供对激光光源的时空特性的前所未有的控制。这项新技术的设计和开发将在一系列应用中易于部署，它将是电子可寻址和像素化的，因此相干特性可以在整个光束中独立地改变，从而产生全新的行为和特征。这项技术将基于电响应性软物质。这里提出的研究提供了一个独特的机会，可以创造一种颠覆性的世界领先的相干调制器技术，在从成像到自由空间可见光通信的各种应用中，可能会在科学和商业上产生深远影响。这个项目的第二个好处是，这项变革性技术的发展将为我们提供一个研究光学相干特性的特别强大的工具。

项目成果

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

用于沉浸式展示和矢量成像的糖掺杂液晶斑点还原器。

• 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.