Patent ID: 11940686
Assignee: II-VI DELAWARE, INC.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 17:
18. A spatial light modulator comprising:
a liquid crystal material;
first and second electrodes disposed on opposing sides of the liquid crystal material and being configured to apply an electric potential across the liquid crystal material, the first electrode being at least partially transparent to allow passage of an incident wavefront of light into the liquid crystal material, the second electrode being reflective and being divided into a two-dimensional array of independently electrically controllable pixels that extend laterally across the spatial light modulator; and
a diffractive optical element disposed between the first and second electrodes and extending laterally across the spatial light modulator, the diffractive optical element having an array of diffracting formations formed from sub-wavelength structures,
wherein the array of diffracting formations define a phase profile, the phase profile being configured to modify the incident wavefront of light reflected off the second electrode and being configured to apply a position-dependent wavefront correction to the incident wavefront of light, wherein the two-dimensional array of independently electrically controllable pixels is partitioned into different spatial regions configured to perform independent switching.