Spatial light modulators based on semi-insulating multiple quantum wells

In this talk, I will review our work on optically as well as electrically addressed semi-insulating multiple quantum well (SI-MQW) spatial light modulators. Optically addressed GaAs/AlGaAs SI-MQW devices have shown 1 μJ/cm² switching energies, 4.5:1 contrast ratios, 10% intensity throughput and switching times as fast as 30 ps. The non-pixelated nature of SI-MQW devices lends itself easily to many image or information processing applications which require interference of two information bearing beams such as in correlation and convolution operations. We will report on use of these devices for spatial (image) as well as temporal and frequency correlators