Liquid crystal display as dynamic diffractive element

Liquid crystal panels, originally designed and fabricated for projection systems, are used as spatial light modulator in optical correlators or in fringe projection systems. An adapted driver electronics and measurements of the phase modulation behavior can lead to a dynamic phase modulating system with an almost linear modulation and a maximum phase shift of 2(pi) . The electronics of our Sony-LCD based system can directly address the graphics card signal or can picture various video standards. So, computer generated holograms can be addressed at video frame rates. We demonstrate examples of technical beam splitters, 2D holograms, reconstruction of digital holograms and animation of diffraction patterns. Here we will state to problems of light efficiency, intensity and wavelength dependent modulation. Furthermore, we will show first results of an FLC based system and derive boundary conditions for applications in holographic projection and micro- structuring.