New results on triode optical gate light valves

We describe a modified Triode Optical Gate (TOG) liquid crystal device that exhibits a very effective electrically driven erase or turn-off operation. The modified device retains the gating, modulation, and enhancement characteristics of the original. These operations, along with the new erase mode, depend on rotation of the direction of the electric field applied to the liquid crystal by a three terminal electrode structure. The paper will also present an analyses of TOG operation in terms of the spacial distribution of the fields, and give experimental results on a one-dimensional array of devices operating in a time-scanned mode.