Optical foveated imaging using liquid crystal (LC) spatial light modulators (SLMs) has received considerable attention in recent years as a potential approach to reducing size and complexity in fast wideangle lenses. We cover a theoretical study quantifying the diffraction efficiency and image quality of foveated optical systems (FOSs) based on transmissive LC SLMs. A practical design example of a fast wideangle FOS based on the current transmissive LC SLM technology is proposed
