Fast and light-efficient wavefront shaping with a MEMS phase-only light modulator

• Published in: Optics express 2024-11, Vol.32 (24), p.43300
• Main Authors: Rocha, José C. A., Wright, Terry, Būtaitė, Unė G., Carpenter, Joel, Gordon, George S. D., Phillips, David B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.541857

Over the last two decades, spatial light modulators (SLMs) have revolutionized our ability to shape optical fields. They grant independent dynamic control over thousands of degrees-of-freedom within a single light beam. In this work we test a new type of SLM, known as a phase-only light modulator (PLM), that blends the high efficiency of liquid crystal SLMs with the fast switching rates of binary digital micro-mirror devices (DMDs). A PLM has a 2D mega-pixel array of micro-mirrors. The vertical height of each micro-mirror can be independently adjusted with 4-bit precision. Here we provide a concise tutorial on the operation and calibration of a PLM. We demonstrate arbitrary pattern projection, aberration correction, and control of light transport through complex media. We show high-speed wavefront shaping through a multimode optical fiber – scanning over 2000 points at 1.44 kHz. We make available our custom high-speed PLM control software library developed in C++. As PLMs are based upon micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology, they are polarization agnostic, and possess fundamental switching rate limitations equivalent to that of DMDs – with operation at up to 10 kHz anticipated in the near future. We expect PLMs will find high-speed light shaping applications across a range of fields including adaptive optics, microscopy, optogenetics and quantum optics.