Control a Vialux DMD with Python

Vialux provides Texas Instrument DMD (Digital MicroMirror Devices) chips with an electronic board to send and display image sequences at high speed (up to 30kHz). While they provide a C++ dll, Labview, and Matlab codes, I did not find any tool for Python. I share here a simple module that wraps the C++ functions for Python. It allows using in a simple manner the basic functions while providing the advanced features of the ALP API.

Easy generation of Laguerre Gauss beam with Python and an SLM

I want to share a simple Python written by José Salazar-Serrano. This program aims to generate a Laguerre Gauss beam with a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM). It uses the slmPy and requires the wxPython and opencv modules to run. The full description of the package and the files are available on the Github repository.

How to control a liquid crystal SLM with Python

Most liquid crystal Spatial Light Modulators (SLMs) and some digital micromirror devices (DMDs) are controlled via an analog (VGA) or digital (HDMI/DVI) monitor standard communication protocol. In other words, you plug it to your computer and it is recognized as a monitor display. There is usually no useful tool or API provided with the device to dynamically control the SLM. I previously introduced a way to control an SLM using Matlab/Octave, now that I switched to Python, I present here a way to do this using Python.

A microwave spatial modulator to improve in-home WiFi

[N. Kaina et al., Sci. Rep. (2014)]

Wavefront shaping is not limited to optical waves. Similar techniques can be used for any kind of wave for which one can control dynamically the phase over a large number of independent elements. In [N. Kaina et al., Sci. Rep. (2014)], the authors demonstrate the use of their Spatial Microwave Modulator (SMM) to control the propagation of radiofrequency waves inside a room to improve the WiFi signal at any chosen position. The system is passive as there is no energy transfer from the modulator to the WiFi signal, it only controls the local phase of the waves reflected off the modulator. The device is thin and has the typical size of a small poster, it can be conveniently placed on the wall of a typical room without any loss of space.