Jones matrix method for predicting and optimizing the optical modulation properties of

a liquid-crystal display
I. Moreno, P. Velásquez, C. R. Fernández-Pousa, M. M. Sánchez-López, and F. Mateos

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 94, 3697 (2003);

View online: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1601688
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/jap/94/6
Published by the American Institute of Physics

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JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS VOLUME 94, NUMBER 6 15 SEPTEMBER 2003

Jones matrix method for predicting and optimizing the optical modulation
properties of a liquid-crystal display
I. Moreno,a) P. Velásquez, C. R. Fernández-Pousa, M. M. Sánchez-López,b)
and F. Mateos
Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnologı́a de Materiales, Universidad Miguel Hernández, E03202 Elche, Spain
共Received 11 April 2003; accepted 24 June 2003兲
We present a simple technique for the calibration, prediction, and optimization of the optical
modulation properties of a liquid-crystal display 共LCD兲. The method is useful when there is no
information about the internal fabrication parameters of the device 共the orientation of liquid-crystal
molecules, the twist angle, or the birefringence of the material兲. A complete determination of the
LCD Jones matrix is accomplished by means of seven irradiance measurements for a single
wavelength. This technique only requires two linear polarizers and one quarter-wave plate. Once the
Jones matrix has been calibrated, the amplitude, phase, and polarization modulation response can be
predicted. Therefore, it can be optimized through the control of the polarization configuration. The
validity of the proposed method is experimentally probed. Finally, we present a particular
application to produce phase-only modulation. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.
关DOI: 10.1063/1.1601688兴

I. INTRODUCTION
Liquid-crystal displays 共LCD兲 are optoelectronic devices
that can modulate a beam of light.1,2 They play an important
role as pixelated devices that act as spatial light modulators.3
Their multiple applications include displaying images, digital
lenses or holograms, polarization gratings, reconfigurable in-
terconnections, or tunable filters. The Jones matrix formula-
tion is the usual tool to describe the optical polarization
properties when dealing with fully polarized light and nor-
mal incidence illumination.2 This formulation has been ap-
plied for both, transmissive4 and reflective LCDs.5 These de-
vices are becoming popular in optics and photonics
laboratories because of their relative ease of availability and
low cost. For instance, they can be obtained from commer-
cial projection systems. In this situation, the user has no
information about the internal fabrication parameters, like
the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules, the twist
angle, or the birefringence of the material. Different tech-
niques have been proposed in literature to characterize these
parameters as a previous step before evaluating the modula-
tion properties of LCDs.6 –9 Because of the ambiguities that
these techniques may produce, the use of different wave-
lengths is required,9 even if the display is intended to be used
with a single wavelength.
Once the LCD internal parameters have been measured,
it is possible to evaluate its modulation properties. For this
purpose, different microscopic models have been developed
in literature, which assume certain behavior of the liquid-
crystal molecules when a voltage is applied. In Ref. 10, Lu
and Saleh assumed a linear twist and a constant tilt of the
liquid-crystal molecules, and they obtained an analytical
a兲
Electronic mail: i.moreno@umh.es
b兲
Also at: Instituto de Bioingenierı́a, Universidad Miguel Hernández,
E03202 Elche, Spain.
Jones matrix that describes the LCD in its own reference
coordinate system. This initial model was improved to take
into account the edge effects of the liquid-crystal layers close
to the display surfaces.11,12 The possibility of predicting the
LCD modulation properties led to an optimization of the
polarization configuration in order to obtain phase-only or
amplitude-only modulation.13 These optimizations use wave
plates before and behind the LCD, and they have been ex-
plained as a modulation over elliptic polarization states.14
In this work, we propose a simple technique for the cali-
bration of the LCD modulation properties. We follow a dif-
ferent strategy, where the macroscopic action of the LCD on
the polarization state is evaluated, but no assumption is made
about the microscopic physical parameters that determine
this effect.15 For this purpose, we use a general Jones matrix
to describe the display illuminated under normal incidence.16
This matrix depends on four real-valued parameters which
are determined through irradiance measurements. Once these
parameters have been measured, it is possible to predict the
irradiance transmission at any other polarization configura-
tion. An additional experiment is required to evaluate the
phase modulation. A complete characterization of the LCD
Jones matrix is obtained, which permits one to predict the
complex modulation at any polarization configuration.
The proposed method does not provide the physical in-
ternal parameters that control the modulation. However, it
has the following advantages with respect to other previous
methods: 共1兲 it does not require a previous calibration of the
LCD internal microscopic parameters, 共2兲 only one wave-
length is required, 共3兲 no assumptions are made about the
liquid-crystal orientation as a function of the voltage, 共4兲 the
laboratory reference frame can be employed, and 共5兲 it can
be employed not only for twisted nematic LCDs, but also for
any other nonabsorbing linear polarization display that can
be described by a Jones matrix.

0021-8979/2003/94(6)/3697/6/$20.00 3697 © 2003 American Institute of Physics

3698 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 6, 15 September 2003 Moreno et al.

i⫽1,2...7. We select the following seven configurations, for

which it is indicated the transmitted irradiance in terms of
the Jones matrix parameters:
共1兲 Illumination with linear horizontal polarization, and de-
tection of the linear horizontal component:
I1⫽兩具0,0兩 M兩 0,0典 兩 2 ⫽X 2 ⫹Y 2 , 共4a兲
共2兲 Illumination with linear horizontal polarization, and de-
tection of the linear vertical component:

冏冓 冏 冏 冏
FIG. 1. Optical system for LCD Jones matrix calibration: P: Linear polar-
izers; QWP: Quarter-wave plates. ␲ 2
I2⫽ ,0 M 0,0典 ⫽Z 2 ⫹W 2 , 共4b兲
2
共3兲 Illumination with linear horizontal polarization, and de-
II. GENERAL JONES MATRIX AND ITS CALIBRATION
PROCEDURE tection of the left circular component:

The Jones matrix of a nonabsorbing polarization device

共for which the LCD is a particular case兲 is unitary and can be
I3 ⫽冏冓 冏 冏 冔 冏
␲ 3␲
,
4 2
M 0,0
2
1 1
⫽ 共 X⫹W 兲 2 ⫹ 共 Y ⫹Z 兲 2 ,
2 2
共4c兲

written as16 共4兲 Illumination with right circular polarization, and detec-

冉 X⫺ jY Z⫺ jW
冊 tion of the linear vertical component:

冏冓 冏 冏 冔 冏
M⫽exp共 ⫺ j ␤ 兲 , 共1兲
⫺Z⫺ jW X⫹ jY ␲ ␲ ␲ 2
1 1
I4⫽ ,0 M , ⫽ 共 Z⫹Y 兲 2 ⫹ 共 X⫺W 兲 2 , 共4d兲
where ␤ is a global phase shift and the parameters XY ZW 2 4 2 2 2
are real values in the range 关⫺1,⫹1兴 that satisfy the normal- 共5兲 Illumination with linear polarization at 45°, and detec-
ization condition X 2 ⫹Y 2 ⫹Z 2 ⫹W 2 ⫽1. This expression of tion of the linear horizontal component:
the Jones matrix is independent of the selected reference co-
ordinate system. Consequently, the LCD can be described by
Eq. 共1兲 in the laboratory reference frame. These parameters 冏冓 冏 冏 冔 冏
I5⫽ 0,0 M
␲
4
,0
2
1 1
⫽ 共 X⫹Z 兲 2 ⫹ 共 Y ⫹W 兲 2 ,
2 2
共4e兲
depend on the gray level (g) addressed to the display. The
aim of this work is to determine the curves X(g), Y (g), 共6兲 Illumination with linear polarization at 45°, and detec-
Z(g), W(g), and ␤ (g). tion of the linear vertical component:

冏冓 冏 冏 冔 冏
We use the Dirac bracket notation, which is appropriate
␲ ␲ 2
1 1
to compactly describe the calibration method. Let us con- I6⫽ ,0 M ,0 ⫽ 共 X⫺Z 兲 2 ⫹ 共 Y ⫺W 兲 2 , 共4f兲
sider an arbitrary polarization state with normalized irradi- 2 4 2 2
ance, described by the Jones vector 共7兲 Illumination with linear horizontal polarization, and de-

冉 cos共 ␹ 兲
冊 tection of the linear component at 45°:

冏冓 冏 冏 冔 冏
兩J典⫽兩␹,␾典⫽ , 共2兲
sin共 ␹ 兲 exp共 j ␾ 兲 ␲ 2
1 1
I7⫽ ,0 M 0,0 ⫽ 共 X⫺Z 兲 2 ⫹ 共 Y ⫹W 兲 2 . 共4g兲
where 0⭐ ␹ ⭐ ␲ /2 and 0⭐ ␾ ⭐2 ␲ . A polarization state gen- 4 2 2
erator 共PSG兲, consisting of a linear polarizer and a quarter-
wave plate, can generate any vector 兩␹, ␾典.14 In a similar Some simple calculations lead to the following relations for
way, a polarization state detector 共PSD兲, composed of a the square of the parameters:
quarter-wave plate and a linear polarizer, detects the compo- I1

冉 冊
nent of the incoming state over the state 兩␹, ␾典, and is de- X 2⫽ 2, 共5a兲
I 7 ⫺I 6
scribed by the bra 具␹,␾兩.14 Figure 1 shows a scheme of the 1⫹
setup, where the LCD is inserted between the PSG and the I 3 ⫺I 4
PSD. The irradiance of the transmitted light is given by the
I1

冉 冊
product Y 2⫽ 2, 共5b兲
I 3 ⫺I 4
I⫽ 兩 具 ␹ 2 , ␾ 2 兩 M兩 ␹ 1 , ␾ 1 典 兩 .
2
共3兲 1⫹
I 7 ⫺I 6
The calibration procedure involves the measurement of the I2

冉 冊
transmitted irradiance for seven different configurations of Z 2⫽ 2, 共5c兲
I 3 ⫺I 4
the PSG and the PSD. It is a variation of the method pro- 1⫹
posed by Jones in his initial works,17 which takes into ac- I 5 ⫺I 7
count the simplicity of the unitary Jones matrix of a nonab- I2

冉 冊
sorbing display 关Eq. 共1兲兴. The normalized irradiance of the W 2⫽ 2. 共5d兲
transmitted light is measured for these seven configurations I 5 ⫺I 7
1⫹
versus the addressed gray level, obtaining the curves I i (g), I 3 ⫺I 4
J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 6, 15 September 2003 Moreno et al. 3699

To completely determine the LCD Jones matrix, it is also

necessary to fix the relative signs between these parameters.
Since a global phase does not change the polarization prop-
erties of the display, we fixed sign (X)⫽⫹1 for g⫽0, and
the other signs are given by the following expressions de-
rived from relation 共4兲,
sign共 I 5 ⫺I 7 兲
sign共 Z 兲 ⫽ , 共6a兲
sign共 X 兲
sign共 I 3 ⫺I 4 兲
sign共 W 兲 ⫽ , 共6b兲
sign共 X 兲
sign共 I 7 ⫺I 6 兲
sign共 Y 兲 ⫽ . 共6c兲
sign共 W 兲
Let us note that this proposed calibration technique only re-
quires one quarter-wave plate, which must be placed on ei-
ther side of the LCD during the seven measurements, but
never on both sides.

III. CALIBRATION OF THE DISPLAY AND PREDICTION

OF ITS MODULATION RESPONSE
The experiments have been performed with a LCD ex-
tracted from a 3M commercial videoprojector, model
MP8610. We illuminated it with a linearly polarized He–Ne
laser (␭⫽632.8 nm). In order to avoid changes in the im-
pinging light irradiance when changing the PSG configura-
tion, we produced circularly polarized light.
Figure 2 shows the evolution of the normalized transmit- FIG. 2. Experimental irradiance transmission for the seven polarization con-
ted irradiance versus gray level in the seven proposed con- figurations used in the calibration procedure
figurations. Normalization is obtained by also measuring the
orthogonal polarization component 共by rotating the final ana-
lyzer 90°兲 and calculating the ratio between the desired com- I⫽ 兩 a 兩 2 ⫽ 关 X cos共 ␸ 1 ⫺ ␸ 2 兲 ⫹Z sin共 ␸ 1 ⫺ ␸ 2 兲兴 2
ponent and the addition of the two components. This is the
usual technique to avoid diffractive or interference effects, ⫹ 关 Y cos共 ␸ 1 ⫹ ␸ 2 兲 ⫹W sin共 ␸ 1 ⫹ ␸ 2 兲兴 2 , 共8兲
and evaluate only the polarization effects.18 Figure 3 shows
the results obtained from these data for the parameters X(g),
Y (g), Z(g), and W(g). It is interesting to note that, for low
␦ ⫽ ␤ ⫹arctan 冉 Y cos共 ␸ 1 ⫹ ␸ 2 兲 ⫹W sin共 ␸ 1 ⫹ ␸ 2 兲
X cos共 ␸ 1 ⫺ ␸ 2 兲 ⫹Z sin共 ␸ 1 ⫺ ␸ 2 兲
.冊 共9兲

gray levels, Y, Z, and W tend to low values while X is close Since the evolution of the XY ZW parameters has been pre-
to one. This fact indicates that, for low gray levels, the Jones viously obtained, we can predict the curve I(g) for any ori-
matrix is close to the identity matrix and, therefore, it does entation of the polarizers. We used expression 共8兲 to optimize
not change the polarization. This situation is known to occur
when the liquid-crystal molecules are completely tilted.
Therefore, the zero gray level corresponds to the maximum
voltage applied to the display. This is consistent with the
assumption on the sign of X.
Once the Jones matrix parameters have been calibrated,
it is possible to predict the modulation response at any other
polarization configuration.13 We first consider the situation
where the LCD is inserted between two polarizers oriented at
angles ␸ 1 and ␸ 2 with respect to the horizontal axis. By a
simple Jones matrix calculation the Jones vector of the trans-
mitted light can be derived as
兩 J 典 ⫽ 兩 ␸ 2 ,0典具 ␸ 2 ,0兩 M 兩 ␸ 1 ,0典 ⫽a exp共 ⫺ j ␦ 兲 兩 ␸ 2 ,0典 , 共7兲
where a and ␦ represent the amplitude and phase of the trans-
mitted light. The irradiance and the phase can be expressed
as a function of the XY ZW parameters and the angles of the FIG. 3. Evolution of the Jones matrix parameters X, Y, Z, W vs addresed
two polarizers, leading to gray level.
3700 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 6, 15 September 2003
FIG. 4. Predicted and experimental modulation results. 共a兲 Configuration for
minimum variation obtained at ␸ 1 ⫽⫺30° and ␸ 2 ⫽0° 共b兲 Configuration for
maximum contrast obtained at ␸ 1 ⫽164° and ␸ 2 ⫽77°.
the modulation response according to certain criteria. This is
presented in Fig. 4, where two polarization configurations,
different from those used to calibrate the display, have been
selected. Both the predicted and the experimental data are
shown. Figure 4共a兲 corresponds to the configuration that
minimizes a parameter p defined as
max共 I 共 g 兲兲 ⫺min共 I 共 g 兲兲
p⫽ , 共10兲
Ī 共 g 兲
where max(I), min(I), and Ī (g) stand for the maximum,
minimum, and average values of I(g) over the gray level
range. Minimizing this parameter leads to a irradiance modu-
lation curve with a small variation around a high value. This
polarization configuration is obtained at angles ␸ 1 ⫽⫺30°
and ␸ 2 ⫽0°. Figure 4共b兲 corresponds to a configuration of
the polarizers that optimizes the contrast ratio, defined as c
⫽1⫺(min/max). In this case the angles are ␸ 1 ⫽164° and
␸ 2 ⫽77° respectively. A very good agreement between the
predicted curves and the experimental data is found, demon-
strating the validity of the proposed method.
Let us note that the calibration curves depend on the
selected reference frame. If a different frame is selected, the
irradiance curves and the evolution of the XY ZW parameters
will be different than those shown in Figs. 2 and 3. However,
once the display is characterized for one reference frame, the
Moreno et al.
FIG. 5. Interference fringes for gray levels 0, 128, and 255 at the configu-
ration ␸ 1 ⫽⫺30° and ␸ 2 ⫽0°. The fringes are displaced to the left-hand
side as the phase modulation increases.
modulation at any other reference frame can be obtained by
means of the usual rotation matrix transformation.
IV. CALIBRATION AND PREDICTION OF THE PHASE
MODULATION
The procedure just described is enough when only the
irradiance modulation is of interest. However, if we are con-
cerned about the phase modulation, the external phase ␤ (g)
in Eq. 共1兲 must be measured. One of the simplest ways to
measure the phase modulation is by means of a two-beam
interferometric technique.19 Light from the He–Ne laser
passes through a diffraction grating and the two first diffrac-
tion orders are sent through separate halves of the LCD. The
zero-diffraction order is blocked. The two light points on the
LCD generate an interference pattern in the far diffraction
field, which is captured by a charge coupled device camera.
When addressing different gray levels to the two halves of
the LCD, the phase on each point is different, producing a
shift on the interference pattern which is proportional to the
phase difference ␦.
In order to perform the experiment, it is convenient to
select a polarization configuration in which the irradiance
modulation does not change very much because, otherwise,
the fringe contrast would be drastically reduced. The con-
figuration shown in Fig. 4共a兲, with angles ␸ 1 ⫽⫺30° and
␸ 2 ⫽0°, is adequate for this purpose. We select one half of
the screen of the LCD with a constant gray level g⫽0, and
the other half is varied from g⫽0 to g⫽255. Figure 5 shows
the lateral displacement of the interference fringes for the
gray levels 0, 128, and 255 addressed to the second half of
the display.
The global phase measured in the experiment is the ad-
dition of the two terms in Eq. 共9兲: the external phase ␤, and
the phase associated with the Jones matrix. It is thus possible
to measure the external phase by subtracting the matrix
phase from the experimental phase, i.e.,
␤共 g 兲⫽␦共 g 兲⫺␦ M共 g 兲, 共11兲
where ␦ M is the contribution of the Jones matrix 关the arctan
term in Eq. 共9兲兴. Figure 6 shows the measured phase modu-
J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 6, 15 September 2003
FIG. 6. Phase modulations ␦ 共total phase兲, ␤ 共external兲, and ␦ M 共matrix兲,
obtained at the configuration ␸ 1 ⫽⫺30° and ␸ 2 ⫽0°.
lation ␦ (g), together with the phase ␦ M (g) derived from the
XY ZW parameters, and the external phase ␤ (g) obtained
from Eq. 共11兲.
Once the phase ␤ (g) has been determined, we can also
predict the phase modulation for different polarization con-
figurations. To show this point, we looked for a configuration
with a large phase modulation. The result is given for the
angles ␸ 1 ⫽160° and ␸ 2 ⫽110°. Figure 7 shows the irradi-
ance and phase modulation predicted for this configuration,
together with the experimental data. We can, once again,
appreciate the excellent agreement between the prediction
and the experiment, both for the irradiance and the phase
modulation. The modulation depth reaches only 230°, and it
is coupled to an amplitude modulation with low values.
In addition, we show that this experiment solves the am-
biguity of the orientation of the neutral axes of the quarter-
wave plate. It is well known that a method for locating the
neutral axes of a wave plate is to look for the orientation that
leads to a null transmission between crossed polarizers.
However, the orientation of the fast and the slow axes re-
mains unknown 共an ambiguity of a rotation of 90° remains in
the orientation of the wave plate兲. The use of an electro-optic
modulator for solving this ambiguity was proposed by Chiu
et al.20 The calibration and prediction method proposed here
provides a simple solution to this ambiguity. If the incorrect
orientation is selected for the quarter-wave plate, the calibra-
tion procedure of the LCD is not correctly derived since Eqs.
4共c兲 and 4共d兲 will not correspond to the experiment. How-
ever, it can be demonstrated that the effect of this mistake is
only a change in the sign of the parameters Y and W, but not
in their magnitude. This change of sign does not affect the
irradiance modulation prediction 关see Eq. 共8兲兴, but it changes
the sign of the phase modulation term ␦ M provided by the
Jones matrix 关see Eq. 共9兲兴. Figure 7共b兲 also shows the pre-
dicted irradiance and phase modulation if this change of sign
in Y and W is considered. The irradiance modulation is ex-
actly the same as in the case of Fig. 7共a兲, but the phase
modulation is significantly different. The agreement between
experimental and predicted results in Fig. 7共b兲 indicates that
the selection in the orientation of the waveplate was correct.
Moreno et al. 3701
FIG. 7. Irradiance and phase modulation obtained at the configuration ␸ 1
⫽160° and ␸ 2 ⫽110°. The dotted line corresponds to the prediction assum-
ing that the quarter-wave plate is not correctly oriented during the calibra-
tion of the LCD, with a rotation of 90° with respect to the correct position.
V. OPTIMIZATION FOR PHASE-ONLY MODULATION
It is well known that LCDs generally provide coupled
phase and amplitude modulation.21 However, phase-only
modulation is desirable for applications in diffractive optics,
adaptive optics, wave front sensing or image filtering. For
this purpose, the concept of a polarization eigenvector has
been applied.22 Elliptically polarized light corresponding to a
rotated eigenvector is used as the incident and detected
beams by means of placing wave plates before and behind
the LCD. In Ref. 13, the method has been improved to de-
termine the configuration of the wave plates and polarizers to
achieve almost perfect amplitude-only or phase-only modu-
lation. These results have been explained as a modulation of
elliptical polarization states14 and as a combination of two
polarization eigenvectors.23
In this section, we show that only one quarter-wave plate
can be used to produce a phase-only modulation. We consid-
ered the setup where the quarter waveplate is placed between
the first polarizer and the LCD in order to illuminate the
display with the appropriate elliptically polarized light. By
minimizing the parameter given in Eq. 共10兲, we obtain the
orientations of the polarizers and the wave plate that lead
to a phase-only modulation response. The resulting angles
for the polarizers and the wave plate are ␸ 1 ⫽⫺23°,
3702 J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 94, No. 6, 15 September 2003
FIG. 8. Irradiance and phase modulation obtained at the configuration of the
polarizers at ␸ 1 ⫽⫺23° and ␸ 2 ⫽21°, and the quarter-wave plate oriented at
an angle ␸ WP⫽82°, located between the first polarizer and the LCD.
␸ 2 ⫽⫹21°, and ␸ WP⫽82°, respectively. A very good phase-
only response is obtained as is shown in Fig. 8. Again, the
agreement between the experimental and predicted data is
excellent for both irradiance and phase modulations. We can
observe a very good phase-only modulation since the irradi-
ance has very small changes along the complete gray level
range 关Fig. 8共a兲兴. However, an important drawback for appli-
cations is the very low phase modulation depth of only 120°
关Fig. 8共b兲兴. We expect to reach deeper phase modulation by
using shorter wavelengths and using a second quarter-wave
plate at the output of the LCD.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
We have presented a simple technique for the prediction
of the modulation properties of a LCD. The method is based
on the use of a general Jones matrix to describe the LCD
polarization properties. This method presents several simpli-
Moreno et al.
fications with respect to other previously reported tech-
niques. We avoid the requirement of different wavelengths
and the necessity of knowing the internal microscopic pa-
rameters of the display 共the twist angle and the liquid-crystal
birefringence兲. The method can be employed in the labora-
tory reference frame. Therefore, it is not necessary to deter-
mine the orientation of the liquid-crystal director. In addi-
tion, no assumptions are required about the microscopic
behavior of the liquid-crystal molecules when a voltage is
applied to the display. We have reported experimental data of
the modulation obtained with different polarization configu-
rations. They demonstrate the validity of the proposed
method and its capability for optimizing the modulation
properties. As an example, we have presented a configuration
that leads to a phase-only modulation response by placing
one quarter-wave plate before the LCD. We have shown that
the method also provides a simple technique for solving the
ambiguity in the orientation of the quarter-wave plate neutral
axes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia y
Tecnologı́a from Spain under Project No. BFM2000-0036-
C02-02 and the Generalitat Valenciana under Project No.
GV01-71.
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