Tailoring light with a digital micromirror device

A digital micromirror device (DMD) is a product of micromechanics. The DMD employs numerous micromirrors as the actuating components to switch small portions of light on and off. During the past few decades, such devices have been widely applied in digital light processing technology. The expanding range of applications makes the DMD increasingly important in various research aspects. Recent advances demonstrate that the DMD is potentially better than the traditional liquid crystal spatial light modulator in speed, spectrum sensitivity, and polarization modulation. These characteristics have been verified in a series of recently reported experiments. This review summarizes the related theory, experimental techniques, and applications for wavefront shaping with DMDs in both statically shaping various spatial modes and dynamically compensating for wavefront distortion caused by the scattering medium.