Using liquid-crystal TVs in Vander Lugt optical correlators

Implementation of a liquid crystal television (LCTV) for a binary phase only converging beam Vander Lugt correlator system is described. The peculiar pixel array structure of the LCTV characterized by diffraction, scaling, and sampling is presented in a generalized form that can be easily adapted to any pixelated spatial light modulator. It is concluded that twisted nematic LCTV has a potential for becoming an effective and inexpensive spatial light modulator. The twisted nematic LCTV is capable of providing both continuous amplitude and phase modulation and can be used for a variety of real-time optical pattern recognition applications.