Modulation depth characteristics of a liquid crystal television spatial light modulator.

The performance of a commercially available liquid crystal TV display was characterized in terms of its modulation depth. Measurements of screen transmittance and modulation depth, as a function of signal level, showed that the primary limitations of the device as a spatial light modulator were due to the nature of the video scan format and the display drive electronics. The resolution of the device, as measured by the modulation transfer function, is limited more by the physical pixel spacing than by pixel crosstalk. The optical flatness of the screen was characterized interferometrically, both with and without polarizers, to show the improvement in wavefront quality obtained by replacing the original polarizers.