An investigation for, and subsequent design of a high speed, high contrast, semiconductor spatial light modulator (SLM) is proposed. The SLM uses polarization rotation in a MQW under built-in uniaxial stress. The ordinarily strained MQWs are pattern with stripe forms to induce an anisotropy in the absorption. The MQW structures then are sandwiched between two linear polarizers similar to liquid crystal SLMs. the "on" and "off" states are controlled with an applied voltage. The contrast ratio, which is determined by the quality of the polarizers, can reach as high as 1000: 1; which the modulation speed, which is determined by electro-absorption in the heterostructures, can reach the picosecond range. The proposal represents a two-year collaboration between the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rutgers University and the Electronics Technology and Devices Laboratory (ETDL) at Fort Monmouth. The work at Rutgers will focus on processing development, structural characterization, and theoretical modeling. In addition, a graduate student from Rutgers will spend and majority of her time at ETDL, performing the optical studies for this project. The National Science Foundation's support will greatly enhance our joint efforts in this area.