THERMALLY CONTROLLED SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR USING PHASE MODULATION

摘要

An apparatus (43) includes a thin-film interference filter structure (10) having a generally wave length- dependent resonant response to incident optical energy in a predetermined range of wavelengths. The thin-film interference filter structure (10) includes a thermally tunable layer (16) having a thermally tunable optical characteristic such that a range of wavelength-dependent resonant optical responses of the thermally tunable layer (16) are induced by a corresponding range of thermal conditions of the thermally tunable layer. The thin-film interference filter structure (10) is configured to (1) receive a spatially varying pattern of thermal energy (51) at the thermally tunable layer (16) to impart a corresponding spatially varying pattern to the thermally tunable characteristic of the thermally tunable layer (16), and (2) receive the incident optical energy (22) into the thermally tunable layer (16) and output optical energy (26) having spatial modulation corresponding to the spatially varying pattern (51) of the thermally turnable characteristic.