Adaptive aberration compensation system using a high-resolution liquid crystal on silicon spatial light phase modulator

We have developed a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM) and examined its performance capability as a wavefront corrector with an adaptive optics (AO) test system. The LCOS-SLM has a high light-utilization efficiency so that it is suitable for AO in ophthalmic instruments. Experimental results with a static phase object showed nearly diffraction-limited performance. The root-mean-square (RMS) value of residual wavefront error was reduced to 0.06 wavelength from 2.09. wavelength. The capability for dynamic aberration correction was also examined. The time-varying aberration was created by rotating the same phase object. While the RMS wavefront error became slightly larger, a nearly diffraction-limited performance could be confirmed as same as in the static aberration correction. Effective stroke and refraction power of the LCOS-SLM were also discussed theoretically. The estimated effective stroke and refraction power were 40 microns and 2.5D for a beam of 8-mm diameter on the LCOS-SLM, respectively.