A Light Modulator Technology for Spatio-Temporal Coherence Control

一种用于时空相干控制的光调制器技术

• 批准号: EP/W022567/1
• 负责人: Stephen Morris
• 金额: $ 105.62万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW022567%2F1
• 关键词: Light; Modulator; Technology; Spatio; Temporal

The spatio-temporal coherence characteristics of a light source are of critical importance in a range of applications including:1) The formation of microscopic images in high-resolution imaging systems;2) The propagation of signals through atmospheric turbulent conditions in free-space optical communications;3) The quality of images generated in projection and augmented reality/virtual reality displays;4) Beam propagation in laser manufacturing and material processing;5) Optical Trapping;6) Imaging through turbulent media;7) Holography;8) Optical trapping; and9) Non-line of sight imaging - 'seeing around corners'. For many applications it would be advantageous if one could exert a level of control over the spatio-temporal coherence characteristics of the light source in a programmable way so that it could be precisely tailored to any of the applications outlined above. Conventional laser sources typically exhibit a high level of coherence. However, depending on the application, high spatial and/or temporal coherence is not always desirable. Even though it is possible to control the spatial and temporal coherence of incoherent light sources through spatial or spectral filtering, they are still fundamentally different from a laser which exhibits poissonian photon statistics, rather than Bose-Einstein photon statistics. Furthermore, for many of the applications listed above, incoherent sources are either not suitable or they exhibit other properties, such as reduced spectral control and poorer collection efficiency, which makes them unattractive.A rudimentary level of control of the spatio-temporal characteristics can be achieved using off-the-shelf technologies, but these tend to be less than ideal as they involve mechanically-moving components, are not scalable, and offer limited control of the degree of coherence. In general, they do not provide analogue control nor are they compatible with a pixelated device architecture, which would enable precise control of the coherence across the beam. To truly revolutionise the applications described above, and to take full advantage of the benefits of partial-coherence, an as-yet-unrealised level control of the spatio-temporal characteristics is required. The development of a disruptive new technology that would offer fine control of the spatio-temporal characteristics would be an extremely exciting prospect for both academic researchers and industrialists working in the fields of biomedical imaging, communications, AR/VR projection displays, and 3d laser manufacturing. Moreover, as a disruptive new technology it would have considerable impact both in terms of enabling new scientific discoveries in applied optics as well as promoting technological breakthroughs in biomedical, display, and communication engineering. The key objective of this proposal to develop a new photonics technology that would offer unprecedented control of the spatio-temporal characteristics of a laser source. This new technology will be designed and developed to be readily deployable in a range of applications, and it will be electrically addressable and pixelated so that the coherence properties can be altered independently across the light beam, leading to radically new behaviour and characteristics. The technology will be based upon electrically-responsive soft matter. The research proposed herein offers a unique opportunity to create a disruptive world-leading coherence modulator technology that could have far-reaching impact both scientifically and commercially in applications ranging from imaging to free-space visible communications. A secondary benefit of this project is that the development of this transformative technology would provide us with an exceptionally powerful tool with which to study the properties of optical coherence.

光源的时空相干特性在一系列应用中至关重要，包括：1）高分辨率成像系统中显微图像的形成；2）自由空间光学中信号通过大气湍流条件的传播通信；3) 投影和增强现实/虚拟现实显示中生成的图像质量；4) 激光制造和材料加工中的光束传播；5) 光学捕获；6) 通过湍流介质成像；7)全息术；8) 光捕获； 9) 非视线成像——“看到角落里的东西”。对于许多应用来说，如果能够以可编程方式对光源的时空相干特性施加一定程度的控制，从而可以针对上述任何应用精确定制，这将是有利的。传统的激光源通常表现出高水平的相干性。然而，根据应用的不同，高空间和/或时间相干性并不总是理想的。尽管可以通过空间或光谱过滤来控制非相干光源的空间和时间相干性，但它们仍然与表现出泊松光子统计而不是玻色-爱因斯坦光子统计的激光有根本的不同。此外，对于上面列出的许多应用，非相干源要么不适合，要么表现出其他特性，例如光谱控制减少和收集效率较差，这使得它们没有吸引力。对时空特性的基本控制水平可以是使用现成的技术来实现，但这些技术往往不太理想，因为它们涉及机械移动的组件，不可扩展，并且对一致性程度的控制有限。一般来说，它们不提供模拟控制，也不与像素化设备架构兼容，而像素化设备架构可以精确控制光束的相干性。为了真正彻底改变上述应用，并充分利用部分相干性的优势，需要对时空特性进行尚未实现的电平控制。对于生物医学成像、通信、AR/VR 投影显示和 3D 激光制造领域的学术研究人员和实业家来说，开发一种能够对时空特性进行精细控制的颠覆性新技术将是一个极其令人兴奋的前景。此外，作为一项颠覆性新技术，它将在应用光学领域的新科学发现以及促进生物医学、显示和通信工程领域的技术突破方面产生巨大影响。该提案的主要目标是开发一种新的光子技术，该技术将对激​​光源的时空特性提供前所未有的控制。这项新技术的设计和开发将易于在一系列应用中部署，并且将是可电寻址和像素化的，以便可以在光束上独立改变相干特性，从而产生全新的行为和特性。该技术将基于电响应软物质。本文提出的研究提供了一个独特的机会，可以创建一种颠覆性的、世界领先的相干调制器技术，该技术可能对从成像到自由空间可见通信等应用的科学和商业产生深远的影响。该项目的第二个好处是，这种变革性技术的发展将为我们提供一个异常强大的工具来研究光学相干性的特性。

项目成果

Zwitterion-doped liquid crystal speckle reducers for immersive displays and vectorial imaging.

用于沉浸式显示和矢量成像的两性离子掺杂液晶散斑减少器。

• DOI: http://dx.10.1038/s41377-023-01265-5
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Light, science & applications
• 作者: Jin Y

Zwitterion-doped liquid crystal speckle reducers for immersive displays and vectorial imaging

用于沉浸式显示和矢量成像的两性离子掺杂液晶散斑消除器

• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-023-01265-5
• 发表时间: 2023-09-22
• 期刊: Light, Science & Applications
• 影响因子: 19.4
• 作者: Jin, Yihan;Spiller, Nathan P.;He, Chao;Faulkner, Grahame;Booth, Martin J.;Elston, Steve J.;Morris, Stephen M.
• 通讯作者: Morris, Stephen M.