Spatial filters for complex wavefront modulation

In this paper we propose a method to generate independent and simultaneous phase and amplitude modulation by a phase-only spatial light modulator and Fourier filtering. The incident light is modulated by a suitable phase pattern containing high spatial frequencies. The modulated light is transmitted through a 4f optical system having an appropriate spatial filter in the Fourier plane in order to synthesize the expected complex modulated wavefront on the output of the system. We propose a simple method to generate spatial filters applicable for the phase-only to complex modulated wavefront conversion. We analyze the quality of the output image related to the ideal wavefront using the proposed filters. We show that more efficient complex modulation can be realized by the proposed method than by the earlier solutions. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America