Spatial light modulator of 648 pixels with liquid crystal transparent from ultraviolet to near-infrared and its chirp compensation application

We fabricated a 648 pixel, two-dimensional spatial light modulator (SLM) with a transmittance of more than 85% in the wavelength region from 260 to 1100 nm. The phase modulation characteristics of the liquid-crystal SLM were clarified. Furthermore, the SLM enabled us to compensate for chirp of 270 fs UV pulses and chirp of 120 fs near-IR pulses so that the former and latter pulse durations, respectively, were shortened to 35 and 25 fs. This suggests that the SLM can be utilized, in the UV to near-IR region, for the generation of monocycle optical pulses, pulse shaping, and other applications. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America