Grating Light Valve (GLV)

Grating light valve is a result of the technological evolution of micro-opto-electro-mechanical structures (MOEMS) that are responsible for the combination of mechanical, electrical and optical components on a microscopic level. A GLV functions by using six ribbons representing diffraction gratings for each pixel value. An electronic beam that falls on the surface of the glass turns the value of a pixel on or off, which controls whether or not the ribbon pixel reflects the light. Pixels obtained from GLV can be in digital or analogue mode with ribbon deflection values between zero and one-fourth the size of the wavelength.