Patent ID: 8254009

Claim:
An optically powered electro-optical modulator, comprising: an electro-optical cell, the electro-optical cell comprising: at least one electro-optical element having an optical axis and first and second opposed optically clear cell apertures defined by the optical axis; at least one pair of opposed electrodes positioned to pass an electric field through the at least one electro-optical element to control modulation of incoming light aligned with the optical axis; at least one optically powered lens assembly; the at least one optically powered lens assembly comprising an optically powered first lens assembly secured at the first cell aperture; the first lens assembly having an optically clear first lens aperture in optical alignment with the first cell aperture; and a housing carrying the electro-optical cell, the electrodes and the at least one lens assembly; wherein the at least one lens assembly causes the electro-optical modulator to act as a field lens for incoming light whose image region is within the electro-optical modulator.