GB2221053A - Spatial light modulators - Google Patents

Spatial light modulators Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2221053A
GB2221053A GB8912781A GB8912781A GB2221053A GB 2221053 A GB2221053 A GB 2221053A GB 8912781 A GB8912781 A GB 8912781A GB 8912781 A GB8912781 A GB 8912781A GB 2221053 A GB2221053 A GB 2221053A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
light modulator
spatial light
modulator
mirror
gallium arsenide
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB8912781A
Other versions
GB8912781D0 (en
GB2221053B (en
Inventor
John Edwin Midwinter
David Richard Selviah
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
General Electric Co PLC
Original Assignee
General Electric Co PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by General Electric Co PLC filed Critical General Electric Co PLC
Publication of GB8912781D0 publication Critical patent/GB8912781D0/en
Publication of GB2221053A publication Critical patent/GB2221053A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2221053B publication Critical patent/GB2221053B/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • BPERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B82NANOTECHNOLOGY
    • B82YSPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
    • B82Y20/00Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
    • GPHYSICS
    • G02OPTICS
    • G02FOPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/01Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
    • G02F1/015Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on semiconductor elements having potential barriers, e.g. having a PN or PIN junction
    • GPHYSICS
    • G02OPTICS
    • G02FOPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/01Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
    • G02F1/015Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on semiconductor elements having potential barriers, e.g. having a PN or PIN junction
    • G02F1/017Structures with periodic or quasi periodic potential variation, e.g. superlattices, quantum wells
    • G02F1/01716Optically controlled superlattice or quantum well devices
    • GPHYSICS
    • G02OPTICS
    • G02FOPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F1/00Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics
    • G02F1/01Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour 
    • G02F1/015Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on semiconductor elements having potential barriers, e.g. having a PN or PIN junction
    • G02F1/0155Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on semiconductor elements having potential barriers, e.g. having a PN or PIN junction modulating the optical absorption
    • G02F1/0157Devices or arrangements for the control of the intensity, colour, phase, polarisation or direction of light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. switching, gating or modulating; Non-linear optics for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour  based on semiconductor elements having potential barriers, e.g. having a PN or PIN junction modulating the optical absorption using electro-absorption effects, e.g. Franz-Keldysh [FK] effect or quantum confined stark effect [QCSE]
    • GPHYSICS
    • G02OPTICS
    • G02FOPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS
    • G02F2201/00Constructional arrangements not provided for in groups G02F1/00 - G02F7/00
    • G02F2201/34Constructional arrangements not provided for in groups G02F1/00 - G02F7/00 reflector
    • G02F2201/346Constructional arrangements not provided for in groups G02F1/00 - G02F7/00 reflector distributed (Bragg) reflector

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Nonlinear Science (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Nanotechnology (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Light Receiving Elements (AREA)

Abstract

An optically addressable spatial light modulator comprises an electrically conducting dielectric mirror 3 with a phototransistor array 1 at one face and a semiconductor light modulator 2 at the other face. The light modulator may be a quantum well structure or a bulk semiconductor Franz-Keldysh modulator. The spatial light modulator is preferably formed of layers of gallium arsenide and gallium aluminium arsenide. <IMAGE>

Description

Spatial light modulators.
The present invention relates to spatial light modulators, and in particular to optically-addressable spatial light modulators.
Present spatial light modulators either use liquid crystal "light valves" to modulate a pump beam from a laser, or comprise an array of optical transistors in series with a transmission modulator.
The latter form, however, suffers from the inconvenience of focussing a weak input beam and an intense pump beam onto a large number of interleaved diffraction limited spots on the same side of the device, since any stray photons from the pump beam finding their way into an input path or directly onto the base of an optical transistor will appear as input noise which will then be amplified.
According to one aspect of the present invention an optically addressable spatial light modulator comprises an electrically conducting dielectric mirror, at least one phototransistor disposed adjacent one face of said mirror and a semiconductor light modulator disposed adjacent the other face of said mirror.
The spatial light modulator may be fabricated as a layered structure of gallium arsenide and aluminium gallium arsenide.
According to another aspect of the present invention an optically addressable spatial light modulator comprises an electrically conducting dielectric mirror, an array of photo transistors disposed adjacent one face of said mirror and a semiconductor light modulator arrangement disposed adjacent the other face of said mirror.
The semiconductor modulator arrangement may comprise an array of multiple quantum well modulators or a bulk semiconductor Franz-Keldysh modulator.
A spatial light modulator in accordance with the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, of which; Figure 1 shows an element of the modulator schematically, and Figure 2 shows diagrammatically part of the modulator in cross-section.
Referring first to Figure 1 the spatial light modulator comprises essentially an n-p-n photo transistor or optical transistor 1 connected in series with a PIN diode optical modulator 2, the electrical connection between the transistor 1 and the diode modulator 2 being made by way of an electrically conductive "dielectric mirror" stack 3. Optical input signals, which may be of low intensity and of incoherent broadband light are arranged to be focussed effectively on the base region of the transistor 1, while relatively high intensity coherent radiation at a wavelength of, say, 850nm may be directed at the diode modulator 2 and reflected by the dielectric mirror 3.
As shown in Figure 2 the spatial light modulator structure may be fabricated in gallium arsenide and aluminium gallium arsenide on a gallium arsenide substrate (not shown), the structure being built up as a succession of differently doped layers starting with an n-doped high aluminium content etch-stop layer 4. The diode modulator 2 comprises an n-doped layer 5 of aluminium gallium arsenide, a succession of thin undoped or intrinsic layers 6 alternately of gallium arsenide and aluminium gallium arsenide, which form multiple quantum wells, and a p-doped layer 7 of aluminium gallium arsenide, over which is deposited the conducting 1dielectric mirror" stack 3 of alternate layers of aluminium arsenide and aluminium gallium arsenide all highly p-doped.
The layers making up the photo transistor 1 may be separated from the mirror stack 3 by a highly p-doped absorber layer (not shown) which is intended to absorb any of the coherent radiation at the pumps wavelength of 850nm which may penetrate the mirror stack 3.
The transistor itself may comprise an n-doped collector layer 8 of gallium arsenide, a p-doped base layer 9 of gallium arsenide, and an n-doped emitter layer 10 of aluminium gallium arsenide which is separated from the base layer 9 by a thin region 11 which is linearly graded from undoped gallium arsenide adjacent the base layer 9 to n-doped aluminium gallium arsenide adjacent the emitter layer 10. A final heavily n-doped capping layer 12 of gallium arsenide is provided onto which metallic contacts 13 may be bonded.
The layered structure can be divided into pixels, either by etching to leave mesas or by proton implantation, in a regular grid pattern. If etching is used the gaps between the mesas are infilled with polyimide or photo resist. The metal layer providing the contacts 13 may then be deposited over the whole surface of the structure, and windows may be etched in register with the pixels to allow access of input optical signals to the phototransistor 1.
A sapphire wafer or "substrate" 14 is then glued to the metal contact layer 13, for example using a clear, high thermal conductivity epoxy adhesive, with an index matching material in the window areas to avoid unnecessary reflections of input signals at the air interfaces.
The original gallium arsenide substrate is etched away almost up to the etch stop layer 4, since it is opaque to the optical pump energy at 850nm. A thin layer is, however, retained to aid contacting, and a metal layer is deposited and windows etched in register with those adjacent the sapphire wafer to allow passage of the pump energy and of the output image energy.
Sapphire has the advantage that it provides an excellent heat sink as well as being transparent. Heat is generated in two places in particular in the structure, in the photo transistor 1 due to the amplificaton of the photoelectrons and in the multiple quantum well layers 6 when absorbing the pump energy. The performance of the layers 6 is sensitive to temperature changes, which alter the thickness of the layers and the well widths. In addition the passband of the dielectric mirror 3 will tend to change with temperature.
If required a second sapphire wafer (not shown) may be glued to the modulator side of the structure to form a sandwich which dissipates heat effectively and increases the thermal inertia of the structure, giving greater stability.
Mesa etching may be used to separate the input phototransistor 1 into two or more all with their collectors connected together to the same modulator 2. This results In a multiple input gate arrangement which can be used in a direct optical copy of an electronic digital circuit.
Instead of a gallium arsenide device operating a wavelength of 850nm the structure could be made in indium phosphide to operate at pump wavelengths of 1500nm or in gallium phosphide or indium phosphide to operate in the visible spectrum.
By cascading two spatial light modulators the negative image normally obtained can be reversed and the output image made positive.
Further cascading with progressively stronger pump beams can provide image intensification. For a given input image intensity the pump beam can only be a fixed factor stronger, so cascading allows high intensity images to be obtained.
It is important that as little as possible of the pump energy should find its way through the dielectric mirror 3 into the base of the phototransistor 1. It is known that dielectric mirrors have, for a reasonable number of layers, a reflection efficiency of, say, 95X, but the remainder which does penetrate can be absorbed by the highly doped gallium arsenide absorber (not shown) on the phototransistor side of the dielectric mirror 3.
A second dielectric mirror (not shown) may be incorporated just below the base region 9 of the phototransistor 1 so that any input signal not absorbed on the first pass through the base region 9 is reflection and absorbed during the return pass. This would serve to increase the input efficiency.
The region 6 may be replaced by bulk gallium arsenide so that the modulation can be induced by the Franz-Keldysh effect.
A supply voltage of, say, 5 volts may be maintained in operation between the metal layers on the outer faces of the layered structure.
The spatial light modulator described above has a wide input bandwidth extending from 850nm into the visible spectrum, although the output spectrum is narrow due to the narrow effective bandwidth of the dielectric mirror 3 and the small shift of band edge in the multiple quantum well modulator 2.

Claims (6)

1. An optically addressable spatial light modulator comprising an electrically conducting dielectric mirror, at least one phototransistor disposed adjacent one face of said mirror and a semiconductor light modulator disposed adjacent the other face of said mirror.
2. An optically addressable spatial light modulator in accordance with Claim 1 comprIsing a layered structure of gallium arsenide and aluminium gallium arsenide.
3. An optically addressable spatial light modulator comprising an electrically conducting dielectric mirror, an array of photo transistors disposed adjacent one face of said mirror and a semiconductor light modulator arrangement disposed adjacent the other face of said mirror.
4. An optically addressable spatial light modulator in accordance with Claim 3 wherein the semiconductor modulator arrangement comprises an array of multiple quantum well modulators.
5. An optically addressable spatial light modulator in accordance with Claim 3 wherein the semiconductor modulator arrangement is a bulk semiconductor Franz-Keldysh modulator.
6. An optically addressable spatial light modulator substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
GB8912781A 1988-06-08 1989-06-02 Spatial light modulators Expired - Fee Related GB2221053B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB888813483A GB8813483D0 (en) 1988-06-08 1988-06-08 Spatial light modulators

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB8912781D0 GB8912781D0 (en) 1989-07-19
GB2221053A true GB2221053A (en) 1990-01-24
GB2221053B GB2221053B (en) 1992-02-26

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GB8912781A Expired - Fee Related GB2221053B (en) 1988-06-08 1989-06-02 Spatial light modulators

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Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE4103071A1 (en) * 1990-02-01 1991-08-08 Mitsubishi Electric Corp LIGHT CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR LIGHT COUPLER AND MODULATOR
EP0443332A1 (en) * 1990-01-23 1991-08-28 Nippon Telegraph And Telephone Corporation Optical gate array
WO1992000543A1 (en) * 1990-06-29 1992-01-09 The General Electric Company, Plc Bipolar junction transistor combined with an optical modulator
WO2003036367A2 (en) * 2001-10-22 2003-05-01 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Light modulation using the franz-keldysh effect
GB2383886A (en) * 2001-12-20 2003-07-09 Corning Inc Reflective spatial light modulator comprising dielectric layer/mirror

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1986005598A1 (en) * 1985-03-18 1986-09-25 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Nonlinear and bistable optical device
WO1987002478A1 (en) * 1985-10-08 1987-04-23 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Nonlinear and bistable optical device

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1986005598A1 (en) * 1985-03-18 1986-09-25 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Nonlinear and bistable optical device
WO1987002478A1 (en) * 1985-10-08 1987-04-23 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Nonlinear and bistable optical device

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0443332A1 (en) * 1990-01-23 1991-08-28 Nippon Telegraph And Telephone Corporation Optical gate array
DE4103071A1 (en) * 1990-02-01 1991-08-08 Mitsubishi Electric Corp LIGHT CONTROLLED SEMICONDUCTOR LIGHT COUPLER AND MODULATOR
WO1992000543A1 (en) * 1990-06-29 1992-01-09 The General Electric Company, Plc Bipolar junction transistor combined with an optical modulator
US5249074A (en) * 1990-06-29 1993-09-28 Gec-Marconi Limited Bipolar junction transistor combined with an optical modulator
GB2245758B (en) * 1990-06-29 1994-10-26 Gen Electric Co Plc A combined bipolar junction transistor and an optical modulator
WO2003036367A2 (en) * 2001-10-22 2003-05-01 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Light modulation using the franz-keldysh effect
WO2003036367A3 (en) * 2001-10-22 2003-09-12 Massachusetts Inst Technology Light modulation using the franz-keldysh effect
US7239762B2 (en) 2001-10-22 2007-07-03 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Light modulation using the Franz-Keldysh effect
GB2383886A (en) * 2001-12-20 2003-07-09 Corning Inc Reflective spatial light modulator comprising dielectric layer/mirror
GB2383886B (en) * 2001-12-20 2005-07-20 Corning Inc Spatial light modulators with improved inter-pixel performance

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB8912781D0 (en) 1989-07-19
GB2221053B (en) 1992-02-26
GB8813483D0 (en) 1988-07-13

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
732E Amendments to the register in respect of changes of name or changes affecting rights (sect. 32/1977)
PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee

Effective date: 19940602