Phasor analysis of eigenvectors generated in liquid-crystal displays.

We analyze optical systems for creating phase-only operation of a liquid-crystal display (LCD). We introduce a new formalism in which any input or output polarization state can be described in terms of a linear combination of the eigenvectors of the LCD. We use a phasor analysis to examine the linear combination of the eigenvectors and show how improved performance can be obtained with a new configuration. We experimentally compare the intensity and phase operation for two configurations with the same spatial light modulator and show the improved performance with the new configuration.