A polarization independent liquid crystal adaptive optics system

A liquid crystal device is normally limited to use with polarized light, resulting in a loss of 50% of the incident unpolarized light. In this paper, a polarization independent liquid crystal adaptive optics wavefront correction system is demonstrated. In the demonstration system, a quarter-waveplate (QWP) and mirror combination are used to rotate the plane of polarization by 90 degrees. on the return pass. The result is that both orthogonal components of the incident unpolarized light are phase modulated by the liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) device. Theoretical analysis shows that the optical throughput of the novel system is about 19.7% higher than that of a standard, polarized LC adaptive optics system. As a demonstration, we used the LC adaptive optics system to correct the aberration of unpolarized light, and obtained a clear image of the unpolarized light source.