Every holographic video display is built on a spatial light modulator, which directs light by
diffraction to form points in three-dimensional space. The modulators currently used for
holographic video displays are challenging to use for several reasons: they have relatively
low bandwidth, high cost, low diffraction angle, poor scalability, and the presence of
quantization noise, unwanted diffractive orders and zero-order light. Here we present
modulators for holographic video displays based on anisotropic leaky-mode couplers, which …

An anisotropic spatial acousto-optic modulator for a holographic display system includes a
substrate, an anisotropic waveguide that guides light into a single polarization, and a
transducer that generates surface acoustic waves that propagate linearly with the guided,
polarized light, converting at least some of the polarized light into a leaky mode of
orthogonally polarized light. The acoustic waves may be encoded with holographic
information. The modulator may include coupling devices for coupling light into the …