PHOTOADDRESSED SPATIAL LIGHT-MODULATOR USING TRANSMISSIVE AND HIGHLY PHOTOSENSITIVE AMORPHOUS-SILICON CARBIDE FILM

A novel photoaddressed spatial light modulator with a highly photosensitive hydrogenated amorphous-silicon carbide photoreceptor and a ferroelectric liquid-crystal layer has been developed that operates in a transmission mode for visible light. The hydrogenated amorphous-silicon carbide photoreceptor shows a high photosensitivity comparable with that of hydrogenated amorphous silicon, which is prepared by a plasma chemical vapor deposition method with helium dilution of the source gases SiH4 and C2H2. An image is input to the photoaddressed spatial light modulator by blue or green light, and an output is read out by red light as a transmitted image. The photoaddressed spatial light modulator exhibits a response time of approximately 50 mus and a contrast ratio of 30:1 under a write light (lambda = 565 nm) of 1.5 mW/cm2 intensity and a resolution of 90 line pairs/mm.