Chemically enhanced bacteriorhodopsin thin-film spatial light modulator

An optically addressed spatial light modulator based on a thin film of chemically enhanced bacteriorhodopsin is demonstrated. Incoherent-to-coherent light conversion is achieved by exploitation of both the large shift in absorption maxima accompanying the bR - M phototransformation and the extended M-intermediate lifetime resulting from the chemical enhancement of the protein at high pH. The device exhibits a linear dynamic range of 120:1 at 514 nm and a resolution of about 100 line pairs/mm. (Author (revised))