History of LCOS

1973–1983: Direct-view Displays
• 1973 Hughes Aircraft: the first LCOS device?
• 1980 Toshiba: direct-view television screen
• 1981 Seiko Epson: textured diffuser mirrors
• 1981 Std. Telecomm: 40 × 40 dichroic
• 1983 Toshiba: 480 × 480 with planarized mirrors
1983–1998: Spatial Light Modulators
• 1983 Hughes: silicon liquid-crystal light valve
• 1988 Edinburgh Univ.: nematic SLM
• 1989 Displaytech: 1st foundry silicon & FLC
• 1994 Displaytech: CMP
• 1995 Displaytech: SLM with lenslet array
1992–present: Microdisplays
• 1992 Kopin: 192 x 192 lift-off
• 1993 Displaytech: 256 x 256 sequential color
• 1998 JVC: d-ILA
• 1998 IBM: projection monitor
• 2000 Sony: FLC UXGA
• 2000 Displaytech: electronic viewfinder
• 2004 JVC/Aurora: all-digital d-ILA
• 2005 Sony SXRD
Emerging Applications
• 1990 Displaytech: unpolarized diffraction & hologram
• 1996 Univ. Colo.: holographic optical crossbar switch
• 2000 ROSES: 1 × 8 fiber-optic switch
• 2004 ENST Bretagne: crossbar switch
• 1998 IBM: write head for HDS
• 2005 Displaytech: 1216 × 1216 write head for HDS
• 2006 Light Blue Optics: holographic display