Design and Performance of a 20-Stage Digital Light Beam Deflector

Abstract

This paper gives optical design considerations and experimental results of a 20-stage digital light beam deflector consisting of a series of nitrobenzene Kerr cells and birefringent calcite prisms. The laser beam is deflected into a two-dimensional raster of 1024 by 1024 positions with a deflection rate of 500 kHz. The optical transmission of the deflector itself is 79% for green laser light. Data about background light and resolution as well as display examples showing alphanumerics and graphics are given.