Generation of three-dimensional optical structures by dynamic holograms displayed on a twisted nematic liquid crystal display

Reconstruction of computer generated holograms (CGHs) addressed on a spatial light modulator (SLM) is an effective way to dynamically generate designed light field distributions. Based on the classic Gerchberg–Saxton (GS) algorithm, we proposed a technique, which can greatly reduce the computation cost to about 60 % in calculating CGHs for three-dimensional (3D) structures but with little degradation of reconstructed light field compared with the classic GS algorithm. The CGHs calculated by our method were displayed on a twisted nematic liquid crystal display, working as a phase-only-modulation SLM, and 3D structures of optical fields, e.g., 3D array of optical traps and vortices, were reconstructed with high efficiency and high quality. Besides, the possibility for 3D holographic display or projection was also demonstrated with this algorithm by reconstruction several images simultaneously in distinct axial planes.