Fig. 3.14 TFT waveforms showing voltage step due to coupling of reset pulse through parasitic
capacitance, Cgd
3.5.3.2 TFD switching
The simpler construction o f TFDs makes them an attractive alternative to the TFT and potentially offer cheaper displays with higher production yields. Display quality is in general inferior to the TFT, except where the simplicity of the construction is offset by increased complexity o f the driving schemes, an example of which will be outlined later. Thin film diodes are used for switching elements in a variety of arrangements and usually fall into one o f three groups; those using bi-directional I-V characteristic connected either singly or as several in series, those using the forward bias characteristic connected in ring configuration and those using their breakdown characteristic in a back-to-back configuration. Fig. 3.15 [Kar(bk)92 chapt.3]. The row and column conductors are constructed on opposite substrates of the device and charge storage is by the pixel capacitance alone. Row and column voltages are reversed on alternate fields.
Row Row Row
a) b) c)
Fig. 3.15 TFD connection schemes; a) bi-directional, b) ring, c) back-to-back
A major disadvantage o f using TFDs is the susceptibility to the non-uniformity of device fabrication. The variations in the high switching voltages dropped across the devices, Von, are transferred to the pixel electrodes and can be easily visible in the
displayed image.
A more sophisticated drive scheme requiring no change to the normal physical construction was developed by Philips Research Laboratories called the or 'TFD-R' or
'5-level' drive scheme. An additional large 'Reset' pulse is applied to the row
conductor just before the usual positive select signal, +Fs^, which is itself replaced by
a negative select signal, -Vs ', ensuring the diode is always biased in the same
directions for the duration o f a select pulse irrespective o f field polarity. The peak to
peak voltage between subsequent fields is then independent of Vqn which is dropped
across the diode, eliminating intensity variations otherwise associated with Vqn,
[Kna93] .
3 .5.4 Opt ic a la d d r e s s in g
An alternative form of addressing not used for conventional display purposes but often employed in optical computing architectures is the optically addressed spatial
light modulator, OASLM, Fig. 3.16. This device, (sometimes called the Liquid
Crystal Light Valve, LCLV) is in effect an image detector and a directly addressed I.e.
cell consolidated into one device, [YuK(bk)90(4.6.4),Cas79]. An image projected onto a
photoconductive detector permits an applied field to be locally delivered to an underlying area of the I.e. cell. An incoherent image projected onto the write side of the device can thus be duplicated in coherent light on the read side. The rotated
an intensity variation in the reflected light. Write image JIJL Voltage source Read illumination Read image
Fig. 3.16 OASLM construction
3.6 PHASE MODULATION FROM A TN LCD
In this project a liquid crystal display is to be used for phase modulation. To achieve multiple levels o f phase modulation it is preferred to use a device whose modulation characteristic varies continuously with applied field. It is however possible to use bi stable FLC devices in cascade as demonstrated by Broomfield et al who constructed
an 8-level phase modulator using three FLC SLMs [Bro95]. A disadvantage of their
approach is that the modulator alone (not incorporated into any optical processing architecture) measured greater than four focal lengths and contained four polarizers and three wave plates. In this thesis the Twisted Nematic liquid crystal is pursued as a more effective device for multi-level phase modulation.
The previous sections have shown that when TN cells satisfy the Mauguin limit the polarization rotates with its passage through the layer. For cells operating in the Gooch and Tarry minima, an incident plane polarization aligned parallel or perpendicular to the front surface director, evolves through the cell in an elliptical form which elongates back to a plane polarization at the second surface. For other angles of incident plane polarization where that polarization is split into components
along the fast and slow axes of the biréfringent I.e. at the front surface, the emergent light retains some degree of ellipticity.
A plane polarization is transformed into an elliptical polarization when the plane state is resolved into two vector components and each which undergoes a different delay on their passage through a medium. Changes in the relative delay of the components cause a change in ellipticity. If an analyser is used to extract a chosen state from the transmitted elliptical polarization then that state’s phase will alter according to the elliptical state striking the polarizer (there is usually also a change in transmitted intenstity). Thus changing the birefringence encountered by an incident polarization provides a means o f altering the ellipticity and/or phase of a transmitted polarization.
To analyse the polarization states and hence phase o f a monochromatic beam the so-
called 'Jones Calculus' is frequently employed [Jon41a,b]. The polarization state is
represented by a two element column vector and optical components are represented by 2x2 matrices. The concept of phase is included using complex notation for the matrix and vector elements. This makes the method very suitable for the analysis of
biréfringent materials [Yar(bk)84(ch.5)]. An introduction to the use of Jones Matrices
can be found in text such as Shurcliff [Shu(bk)62]. A brief outline of Jones Calculus in
given in Appendix B.
The process o f extracting a plane component from an elliptical state with a linear polarizer causes the orthogonal component to be extinguished so some amplitude is
lost. To achieve a phase only (mostly) modulator we require the amplitude
attenuation to be constant over the operating voltage range and preferably small. Research groups have tried to achieve this in a variety o f ways.
3.6.1 Op e r a t io n b e t w e e n t h r e s h o l d s
Konforti et al investigated the voltage regime between the 'Freedericksz' threshold (where tilt change begins) and the 'optical' threshold (where deformation of the twist
begins) [Kon88]. They inserted two twisted cells of 8p.m thickness containing E7 and
maintained until twist deformation began. The reference arm therefore contains a half wave plate to rotate its polarization by 90°, permitting interference at the output. The onset of tilt change was recorded at 1.05 V and I.IOV for the two cells respectively by observing the commencement of transmitted phase change.
With 633nm incident radiation the thick I.e. layers enabled 2% radians of phase
modulation before significant amplitude modulation began. The ‘thick cell’ total
phase shift was determined by integrating the effective refractive index over the
thickness o f the I.e. layer:
^ = \ 2 n ^ . d z
0 ^
Even within the Mauguin regime, commercial LCDs with smaller I.e. layers, can have
a 'between thresholds' phase range falling short o f 2tc.
Kirsch et al also used the phase modulation of an incident beam polarized parallel to the first director and emerging with polarization rotated by the LCD's twist [Kir92].
The LCD in this case was a ‘thick’ LCD from an 'Epson Crystal Image' video projector. They achieved I.STtt rad. of phase modulation with 633nm light when the brightness control was adjusted to give maximum phase between ON and OFF pixels.
They went on to place another identical display in front o f the phase modulator but with the incident polarization perpendicular to the front director. The second LCD
therefore exhibited no phase modulation [Kon88], but modulated the amplitude
incident on the phase modulator. Thus complex modulation was obtained. However, since the two devices are not in the same plane their use as a complex Fourier plane filter in an optical system such as a correlator is not possible without imaging corresponding pixels from one LCD onto the other as suggested by the same
group in reference Gre92. This inevitably extends the length of a system by at least
two focal lengths. Furthermore, since less than 2n radians o f phase modulation
capability (PMC) is achievable with one LCD, they suggested two phase modulators arranged similarly in series which would therefore add yet another two focal lengths.
3 . 6 . 2 Do u b l e Pa s s
Barnes et al used a Citizen UB250 commercial Passive Matrix LCD in the voltage
regime suggested by Konforti et al [Bar89]. Adjustment of the applied cell voltage was
via a 'Brightness' control and an analogue video input. With a brightness monitor
voltage range measured as varying from 8V to 20V they estimated the Freedericksz
and optical thresholds to be where the monitored signal is 9V and 11V respectively. These high voltages are unlikely to be the true voltage appearing on the I.e. electrodes but rather a scaled indication of them. They showed a rotation o f incident polarization o f up to approximately 20° in the supposed phase only region between 9 and 11 volts, thus causing a change in intensity.
In an attempt to maximise phase modulation while reducing polarization rotation they fitted a mirror behind the LCD to achieve a 'Double Pass' of the I.e. layer. To ensure registration of the LCD pixels in the forward and reverse path a system of two lenses and a spatial filter had to be placed between the LCD and mirror. Even with this
double pass arrangement total phase modulation was just n radians. Although the
researchers were able to implement binary phase only holograms with limited success (a large zeroth order was present) they report that a full 2ti phase range was only possible with a quadruple passage of the display! They do not describe how this is achieved. Analysis o f phase modulation change within a display scan period showed a variation of 0.6ti radians in a single pass which was considered to be due to the passive matrix addressing scheme. They opine that the complexity of such a set-up and the resultant increase in intra-scan phase change, '"made it practically impossible to get any meaningful results from the quadruple-pass system".
3. 6.3 Jo n e s a n a l y s isw ithv a r ia b l e p o l a r iz e ra n d a n a l y s e ro r ie n t a t io n s
The trend toward higher resolution displays requires faster switching times which is achieved through thinner I.e. layers. This in turn reduces the PMC available by operation between the thresholds. Achieving useful phase modulation from these displays which do not satisfy the Mauguin condition requires a more analytical approach.
Lu and Saleh use a Jones matrix representation described by Yariv and Yeh
[LuS90,Yar(bk)84]. By representing a 9 0 ° TN cell with no applied voltage as a stack of biréfringent plates uniformly rotated in relation to their neighbours the cell can be expressed using the rotator matrix R as:
MLCD
^
COS/ - 7—s in /P ■
MLCD a a Ï 7 s in / s in / 7 ■P • c o s/ + 7—s in / 7 Equ. 3.11 Equ. 3.12 ; ^ s i n ( / ) 2 / cos(/) + 7 — sin(/)\ 7 J - c o s ( /) + 7^ sin (/) ^ s i n ( / ) Equ. 3.13 where: P = ^ [ r t , - n j TL.d = + « J TVthe director at the front substrate is aligned along the x axis and zero attenuation is assumed.
When a voltage is applied, the tilt is assumed to be uniform at an average value
throughout the cell and hence effective refractive index, is assumed uniform.
where:
=
271.d
^ is the Ordinary retardation, —-—[n^]
A
Equ. 3.14
Equ. 3.15
The matrix thus varies only as a function of the parameter /?, with applied voltage.
The term is a constant and can be ignored. The matrix holds for all 90° twisted
nematic cells. Placing the matrix between the matrices for two polarizers oriented at
angles y/i and ^ with respect to the x direction (and hence front director) enables the
transmitted complex amplitude to be calculated as a function of p.
E , = Equ. 3.16
where: E, and E. are transmitted and incident Jones vectors, and
P^2 P^i are analyzer and polariser respectively.
The transmitted intensity, T, and phase, Ô, parts can then be separated as:
r = — sin(x)cos(y/, - ^;r 2) + cos(/)sin(y/, -y/P ) + — s i n ( x ) s in ( ( /, + (^ 2 )
Ï Equ. 3.17 5 - p ~ tan - s i n ( /) s in ( ^ , +^^2)
r
71 sin(;K)cos(i(/,-%^) + cos(y)sin((/, - ) Equ. 3.18A 'Realistic 16-15 T liquid crystal was measured by Lu and Saleh for PMC and intensity transmittance with the polarizer and analyser parallel and perpendicular to the front director respectively. Experimental plots of intensity and phase modulation were shown to match the theoretical plots. Over the available brightness bias range
approximately 1.3tc rad. of phase was achievable but with a large drop in
transmittance from approximately 100% to 30%. With the brightness bias set to minimum, setting the video signal first to maximum then minimum produced a phase change o f only 0.3% rad. but with negligible change in intensity.
Yamauchi and Eiju use Jones calculus to point out that for thin cells the emerging light is elliptically polarized so that if reflected by a mirror for a second passage the returning incident beam is no longer plane polarized and will not undergo the same phase delay as in the forward direction [Yam95a]. i.e. for thin LCDs, a double pass configuration does not double the one-way phase modulation. However, introducing a polarizer between the LCD and mirror ensures a returning plane polarization of the same orientation as the forward emerging beam and the total phase modulation is doubled but at the cost of considerable loss of intensity. For the returning beam,
polarizer angles in the Jones analysis are reversed due to the reverse o f one
co-ordinate in the reflection process.
j D r Equ. 3.19
0 h
where: E, and E. are transmitted and incident Jones vectors, and
is a polarizer oriented at angle y/.
f-J
. represents reflection from a plane mirror,
V 0 j j
is the LCD matrix rotated through 90°
for the return path.
Neto et al used two 'Epson Crystal Image' LCDs connected in series to obtain full
complex modulation [Net95]. They used the method of Lu and Saleh to determine the
front director orientation, and the cell twist, a. The first display, used for phase-
mostly modulation has its bias turned to minimum and thus operated in the linear
phase modulation range identified by Lu and Saleh where /?<V(;ï^+ûP). By
independently rotating the polarizer and analyser they were able to experimentally find
a pair of angles which gave 2n phase change with equal transmitted intensity at
applied grey levels of GLO and GL255. For the amplitude modulator the polarizer and analyser were rotated independently and having found a suitable orientation
combination the bias was then increased (J3 reduced) until the last null of the 'intensity
vs. p ' characteristic was located. This allowed the maximum change in intensity
transmittance with grey-level. The coupled amplitude modulation of the phase-mostly modulator and coupled phase modulation of the amplitude-mostly modulator were
recorded and the LCDs driven so that the respective coupled modulations could be compensated for in the other LCD. Thus the full complex modulation space was accessible.
The Neto group did not use an analytical method for determining appropriate polarizer and analyser orientations for the practical LCD implementation and used only the end points of the applied grey scale (GLO and GL255) to find the smallest intensity variation.
3.6.4 Eig e n p o l a r iz a t io n s
An alternative approach employed by Pezzaniti and Chipman examines phase modulation across the full grey-scale range using the cell's Eigenpolarization states
[Pez93]. The Eigenpolarization states are those which, when applied to the cell,
emerge with the same state. The researchers experimentally observed that for a given device, these states changed little with applied LCD grey level. Although not altering the polarization state, a phase delay was imposed on the emerging light.
The measurements were conducted on an 'InFocus TVT-6000' liquid crystal television
with which a maximum PMC of 1.1 ti rad. was achieved when the contrast and
brightness controls were set to maximum. The LCTV was analysed using a Mueller matrix polarimiter and yielded two eigenpolarizations; one with right-handed and one with leA-handed helicity. The apparatus describes the two states by their stokes vector which comprises four elements as in Table 3.1.
At maximum brightness and contrast setting all parameters were constant to within 10% over the full grey level range. The LCTV was placed in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with linear polarizers and quarter wave plates (QWP) placed around the LCTV to set the average eigenpolarization state for the full grey scale. The left helicity state showed 1.1% radians phase modulation while the right helicity showed less than 0.1% radians. With the QWP and linear polarizers fixed at the orientation for the mean eigenpolarization, intensity transmittance in the left state varied by only 7%.
SO Irradiance Always 1 in this case since attenuation is absent.
SI Tendency towards Horizontal plane
polarization.
+1 = Horizontal -1 - Vertical
S2 Tendency towards +45° plane polarization. +1 = +45°
-1 = -45°
S3 Tendency toward Right hand ellipticity. +1 = Right circular
-1 = Left circular
Table 3.1 Definition of Stokes Parameters
A theoretical analysis o f the eigenpolarization approach to phase modulation is
provided by Davis et al [Dav98]. Two types of eigenvector were identified. Recall
that the Jones matrix for a linearly twisted TN cell could be stated as the product of two matrices:
MLCD Equ. 3.20
where R(-cir) represents a rotation by the twist angle a.
The eigenvector for the total cell, Mlcd, emerges with the same ellipticity and orientation as the incident polarization and is referred to as the Classic Eigenvector. An eigenvector for the matrix M(«,/7) alone can be considered which is subsequently
rotated by the rotator matrix R(-a) on passage through the device. The latter
eigenvector is referred to as the Rotated Eigenvector, Ea. Davis et al consider the Rotated Eigenvector to be of considerable use in achieving phase modulation. The eigenvalue. A, for eigenvectors, Ea, is defined as:
M (a ,^ .E A = y l.E A Equ. 3.21
The eigenvalue is found by setting the characteristic determinant o f matrix M to zero:
a sin;' j P ■ A cosy - — s m r - A Y r j P •