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Large angle, nonmechanical beam steering is demonstrated at 4.62 µm using the digital light processing technology. A 42-deg steering range is demonstrated, limited by the field-of-view of the recollimating lens. The measured diffraction efficiency is 8.1% on-axis and falls-off with a sin² dependence with the steering angle. However, within the 42-deg steering range, the power varied less than 25%. The profile of the steered laser beam is Gaussian with a divergence of 5.2 mrad. Multibeam, randomly addressable beam steering, is also demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A digital micromirror device (DMD) acts as a spatial light modulator in a maskless photolithography system. Illuminated by coherent light, DMD performs as a two-dimensional diffraction grating because of its periodical internal structure. Diffraction efficiency is an important factor for evaluating the exposure doses. A diffraction model of DMD based on Fourier analysis demonstrates that errors of the DMD's manufacture and the precision of the machining of the optical mechanical structure affect the diffraction efficiency. Additionally, analysis of exposure results by the diffraction model of DMD in Tracepro explains the degradation of the exposure quality and is helpful for calibrating the direction of optical focusing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual inspection for a highly reflective surface is commonly faced with a serious limitation, which is that useful information on geometric construction and textural defects is covered by a parasitic image due to specular highlights. In order to solve the problem, we propose an effective method for removing the parasitic image. Specifically, a digital micromirror device (DMD) camera for programmable imaging is first described. The strength of the optical system is to process scene ray before image formation. Based on the DMD camera, an iterative algorithm of modulated region selection, precise region mapping, and multimodulation provides removal of the parasitic image and reconstruction of a correction image. Finally, experimental results show the performance of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial light modulators (SLMs) have shown to be versatile tools for displays, but also for various applications in optical metrology since light can be individually directed and customized and thus they may serve as flexible masks or holograms. In contrast to SLMs based on liquid crystal on silicon or liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which allow tailoring phase and/or amplitude of a wavefront in transmission or reflection, digital micromirror devices (DMDs) offer highest reflectivity and allow precise as well as fastest guidance of light rays based on the fundamental reflection law. Here, we present and compare different approaches for simulating the diffractive pattern when applying a micromirror device for wavefront readout. The different simulation methods for calculating the diffraction pattern are based on Monte-Carlo simulations in combination with nonsequential ray tracing, on Fourier optics methods (Fourier transform, FT) and on complex digital holographic wavefront propagation. The wavefront measurement concept with the DMDs is based on selecting single subapertures of the wavefront under test and on measuring the wavefront slope consecutively in a scanning procedure. In contrast, in LCD-based approaches already shown in literature, the selection of subapertures and thus the scanning procedure is performed in transmission. The measurement concept and diffraction-based measurement errors of this method will be demonstrated for aspheric optics. Furthermore, different approaches for the prediction and reduction of the diffractive pattern--also based on holographic complex wave front propagation--will be described and characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A homogeneous one-dimensional optical lattice is demonstrated by using a high-precision beam shaper based on a digital micro-mirror device (DMD) with an imaging system containing a pinhole low-pass filter (LPF). This system is capable of producing a high-quality flattop beam profile to form a standing-wave optical lattice with a 50 x 50 µm² flattop region. The periodic potential generated by the optical lattice confines ultracold atoms in Bose-Einstein condensate experiments. We conducted beam shaping tests at several wavelengths by implementing various coherent and incoherent light sources in the visible and infrared wavelength ranges. Experiments produced flattop and other well-controlled beam profiles with 0.2% to 0.26% root-mean-square (RMS) error after applying a digital LPF and nearly flat phase. Several concerns for the system design are presented. First, the energy requirement was determined by power conversion analysis and DMD diffraction efficiency simulation. In addition, a LabVIEW program was written to accelerate the speed of the iterative process for beam profile refinement. Finally, various camera calibrations improved the measurement accuracy. We achieved a 1.25% RMS error flattop beam with diameter of 70.4 µm at the atoms' plane. Other beam profile measurements in different diagnostic planes demonstrated a good intensity uniformity of the optical lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) have become ubiquitous as spatial light modulators in the optics community, but ambiguity remains on how best to implement them in a laboratory environment. Here, we explicitly tackle the problem of generating high fidelity modes of structured light while maintaining optical efficiency. We present a theoretical characterization of the diffractive properties of the DMD, allowing us to motivate an alignment procedure that improves optical efficiency. We also present a set of best practice recommendations that cover aspects of DMD operation that are not immediately intuitive, these best practice recommendations ensure structured light is generated with the correct spatial profile and wavefront. We present experimental results that show efficiency improvements of up to 20%. Further, we demonstrate the creation of modes of structured light with fidelities in excess of 96%. The best practices presented here provide a pragmatic set of procedures for ensuring DMDs are used to their fullest potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]