Photoaddressed spatial light modulator using transmissive and highly photosensitive amorphous-silicon carbide film.

A novel photoaddressed spatial light modulator with a highly photosensitive hydrogenated amorphoussilicon 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 SiH(4) and C(2)H(2) An image is input to the photoacdressed 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 ~50 µs and a contrast ratio of 30:1 under a write light (λ = 565 nm) of 1.5 mW/cm(2) intensity and a resolution of 90 line pairs/mm.