A light modulator includes elongated elements and a support structure. The
elongated elements are arranged in parallel. Each element includes a light
reflective planar surface with the light reflective planar surfaces lying
in one or more parallel planes. The support structure is coupled to the
elongated elements to maintain a position of the elongated elements
relative to each other and to enable movement of each elongated element
between a first modulator configuration and a second modulator
configuration. In the first modulator configuration, the elongated
elements act to reflect an incident light as a plane mirror. In the second
modulator configuration, selected groups of elements are deflected and act
to diffract the incident light along one or more of a plurality of
diffraction planes. The groups of elements are configured according to one
of a plurality of selectable group configurations. Each group
configuration corresponds to one of the plurality of diffraction planes.
