Fully programmable high speed polarization multiplexed optical scanner

We present a 3-D optical beamformer called polarization multiplexed optical scanner or P-MOS that is made by cascading electrically driven pixel-free 90* polarization rotators and birefringent plates. Earlier, we proposed and demonstrated the use of a high impedance thin film intermeshed with the array electrode structure of an nematic liquid crystal (NLC) beamformer device to produce smooth optical phase modulation between electrodes.