Fast switching phase modulator based on nematic liquid crystals for phase multiplexing in holographic data-storage-systems

Liquid crystals exhibit a wide range of interesting optical properties, one is the phase modulation of an optical wave by nematic liquid crystals. We employ this effect for the realization of a phase modulator built of a cell with 64 separate controllable stripes for phase multiplexing in a next generation holographic data storage device. Phase multiplexing in holographic systems is a proven way to increase the storage capacity of a holographic medium Advantages of our phase modulator are the compact size and the non-expensive manufacturing. To fasten the switching time we use a small cell gap and take advantage of the transient nematic effect. Furthermore the LC-cell is heated and temperature stabilized. Using the combination of these techniques we reach switching times of 3 ms and below.