Multidimensional definition domain for the absolute retardance in digital backplane liquid crystal devices

Abstract Tunability of the retardance by liquid crystal on silicon microdisplays is at the heart of modern wavefront engineering in Optics and Photonics. However, a full knowledge of its dependence on voltage and illumination wavelength is not yet experimentally accessible. This would be very convenient, not only to set the optimal working conditions for applications, but also, on a more fundamental level, to explore the topology of the tunability of the phase retardance. The initial 2D nature of this parametric space increases in digital backplane devices, where the actual voltage depends on both the digital sequence addressed and on its low and high voltage values. Here, we demonstrate an efficient and accurate procedure to evaluate the absolute retardance across this multidimensional parametric space, which is given by applied voltage and wavelength, providing a novel and unprecedented insight.