Suppression of spurious image duplicates in Fourier holograms by pixel apodization of a spatial light modulator

Abstract

Holographic projectors and near-eye displays are a promising technology with truly three-dimensional, natural viewing and excellent energetic efficiency. Spatial light modulators with periodic pixel matrices cause image duplicates, which distract the viewer and waste energy of the playback beam. We present the engineering of the far field intensity envelope, which suppresses higher-order image duplicates in the simplest possible optical setup by physically changing the shape of modulator pixels with attached apodizing masks. Numerical and experimental results show the limited number of perceived duplicates and better uniformity in off-axis projections for the price of compromised energetic efficiency due to amplitude masks.