Near-infrared-to-visible image conversion using a Si liquid-crystal light valve

A real-time near IR-to-visible image converter using a Hughes silicon liquid-crystal light valve (Si LCLV) has been demonstrated. A 1.06-microm image was converted to a 0.633-microm laser wavelength. The major advantages of this near-IR-to-visible image converter are its high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, coherent- (incoherent-) to-coherent (incoherent) image conversion, up and down wavelength conversion capability, high resolution (>10(5) resolution elements), room-temperature operation, and high damage threshold.