Patent ID: 8687252
Filing Date: 2014-04-01
Classification: G02F,G03H

Abstract:
1. A device, comprising: regularly arranged controllable light-modulating elements which include a birefringent material in molecular form with a controllable orientation of the molecules and therefore a controllable orientation of their optical axes for the modulation of phase and amplitude, independent from each other, of sufficiently coherent light waves; a polarizer disposed at the exit side of the light modulating elements; and a modulation controller controlling the orientation of the optical axes of the molecules of the birefringent material within the light-modulating elements by the application of a force, wherein the modulation controller comprises means to apply the force such to control the orientation of the optical axes of the molecules in the light-modulating elements in two dimensions independently of each other, where the two dimensions are defined by a first coordinate axis laid in a first section plane of the birefringent material and a second coordinate axis perpendicular to the first coordinate axis laid in a second section plane perpendicular to the first section plane of the birefringent material.