Analog electro-optic modulators for ferroelectric-liquid-crystal/VLSI spatial light modulators

We report here on analog modulation effects in ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) materials and electrical drive schemes that are appropriate to FLC/VLSI spatial light modulations (SLMs). The deformable-helix ferroelectric (DHF) effect paired with fixed-charge drive can give sub- millisecond grey-scale response with VLSI-compatible drive voltages. New DHF materials with long-pitch nematic phases give superior alignment quality and contrast ratio. We present analog FLC driver circuits suitable for VLSI implementation, and show that providing adequate read/write isolation in optically addressed FLC/VLSI SLMs requires special care.