I have been working with liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) and DMDs for a couple years. They are undoubtedly very important in today's optical research, yet the slow response is extremely disappointing. I recently learnt that in history there was a type of multiple-quantum well spatial light modulator (MQW-SLM), which can reach modulation bandwidth of MHz to GHz, MUCH MUCH better than LC-SLM. There were papers, lab demos and even commercial product based on MQW-SLM in the 1990s to 2000s. Those results seem very promising. Yet it just stopped. I just don't understand why there are no products afterwards. Any experts that can explain the technical challenge and bottleneck?
Good question. It is a fact that the system is patented and then it is up to the patent owner what to do with it ... To give an idea: the automobile industry obtained the patent for the Stirling motor that was much better than the conventional motors. It was decided not to take advantage of the patent as this would affect seriously revenues from the present system.
Ger Koper This is of course one possibility, yet I doubt about that. Current SLM technology develops from 1990s, and MQW-SLM was also extensively studied during that period. That is to say, there weren't any mature and dominating solutions at that time. A few related patents on MQW-SLM were held by the Bell lab, and I don't think they would hide this because it may affect other competitors. So I'm still inclined to believe that I miss some major problems of this technology.
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