Deformable-Mirror Spatial Light Modulators

A brief overview of deformable-mirror spatial light modulator (SLM) technology is presented, followed by the first comprehensive review of the Texas Instruments deformable-mirror device (DMD), a subclass of deformable-mirror SLMs. The DMD architecture, fabrication, and operation (both analog and digital) are described. It is shown that amplitude-dominant or phase-dominant modulation is obtained by a simple modification of the pixel architecture. Representative DMD applications are presented.