Reconfigurable ternary-phase array illuminator based on the generalised phase contrast method

A new technique is presented for implementing a dynamic array illuminator scheme based on the generalised phase contrast imaging method. It is shown that by using a ternary-phase rather than a binary-phase approach for encoding input patterns a larger range of array compression factors can be achieved. We demonstrate how a graphical phase chart can be used for the optimisation of the array illumination. Due to the low requirements for both spatial and temporal bandwidth products the encoding method is ideal for implementation on reconfigurable phase-only spatial light modulating devices with diverse applications such as dynamic laser tweezer arrays and generation of structured light for machine vision. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.