Optical comparator based on FLC LCOS technology

SLMs based on FLCs offer a potentially cheap and fast technology for optical systems. However, they are limited by their binary modulation. An efficient JTC can be implemented with FLC SLMs, if the 1/f or two pass architecture is used. It is shown how the 1/f system can be made into a very powerful yet optically simple processor when it is implemented with a liquid crystal over silicon binary phase modulator.