Liquid crystal televisions (LCTVs) continue to be used as inexpensive spatial light modulators (SLMs) in coherent optical processing systems. The LCTVs are generally manufactured using twisted-nematic liquid crystal materials. The operating curve of a twisted-nematic liquid crystal television can be varied by adjusting the orientations of the polarizer and analyzer relative to the molecular structure of the liquid crystal cell. The usefulness of the LCTV as a SLM in an optical processing system critically depends on the operating curve selected. This is particularly so when the SLM is used in the filter plane of a coherent optical correlator. We present here several criteria that can be used to evaluate the usefulness of an operating curve for a filter-plane SLM.

Date Published: 15 March 1996
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 2752, Optical Pattern Recognition VII, (15 March 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.235642

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2752:
Optical Pattern Recognition VII
David P. Casasent; Tien-Hsin Chao, Editor(s)