Optical diffraction simulation of a digital micromirror device

John J. Piotrowski; Dmitry Vorobiev; Massimo Robberto; Stephen A. Smee

doi:10.1117/12.2608767

1 March 2022 Optical diffraction simulation of a digital micromirror device

John J. Piotrowski, Dmitry Vorobiev, Massimo Robberto, Stephen A. Smee

Proceedings Volume 12014, Emerging Digital Micromirror Device Based Systems and Applications XIV; 1201409 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2608767
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2022, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We present a 3D electromagnetic simulation of a digital micromirror device (DMD) from 0.4 µm to 5 µm, which accurately models DMD reflectance and contrast ratio, including the effects of diffraction. A DMD is a spatial light modulator with a wide range of applications, including projection displays, 3D printing, and imaging spectroscopy. The physical structure of the DMD induces strong wavelength-dependent diffraction effects that impact the stray light, optical throughput, and pupil illumination distribution of a system. To quantify this, we perform a 3-dimensional electromagnetic finite-difference time-domain simulation, illuminating the DMD with a focused, incoherent beam, explicitly calculating the near-field electric fields, and calculating the far-field distribution of light. The far-field data determines diffraction efficiency and the distribution of light across the pupil. With these models, we are able to study the DMD’s optical efficiency in three key regimes: the specular regime, where the DMD behaves like a segmented mirror with a diffractive component (λ < 1 µm); the diffraction-dominated regime, which is also described by analytic diffraction grating theory (3 µm < λ < 5 µm); and, uniquely, the transition region, where the specular reflection and diffraction contributions are comparable (1 µm < λ < 3 µm). Our results inform system performance parameters, provide optical design constraints, and create a framework of use cases for DMDs.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

John J. Piotrowski, Dmitry Vorobiev, Massimo Robberto, and Stephen A. Smee "Optical diffraction simulation of a digital micromirror device", Proc. SPIE 12014, Emerging Digital Micromirror Device Based Systems and Applications XIV, 1201409 (1 March 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2608767

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