Diffuserless holographic projection working on twin spatial light modulators

An improved efficient projection of holographic images is presented. It uses two phase spatial light modulators (SLMs) with two iteratively optimized Fresnel holograms displayed simultaneously-each for one modulator. The phase distribution on the second modulator is taking into account the light distribution coming from the first one. A pixelated structure of the modulator and fluctuations of liquid-crystal molecules cause a zero-order peak that was separated in experiment. Use of two SLMs gives clear and containing almost no speckles images. Thanks to the compensation of phase distribution from the first modulator, we can abandon diffusers in the iterative process and that is why we can control both amplitude and phase distribution in the image plane independently. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America