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 .