Title :
Fabrication of electrically controllable microlens array using liquid crystals
Author :
Kim, Jae-Hoon ; Kumar, Satyendra
Author_Institution :
Div. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Hanyang Univ., Seoul, South Korea
Abstract :
Electrically controllable liquid-crystal (LC) microlens arrays have been fabricated using the process of anisotropic phase separation of the LC from its solution in a ultraviolet curable prepolymer. The focal length of nematic LC-based microlens arrays can be changed in milliseconds with an applied electric field. The ferroelectric LC microlens array exhibits the memory effect and modulates the transmitted light within a few microseconds, i.e., ∼1000 times faster than the nematic LC-based microlens. Having no internal substructures to scatter light, these devices offer high efficiency and high light throughput that is different from polymer-dispersed devices.
Keywords :
electro-optical effects; electro-optical modulation; ferroelectric liquid crystals; liquid crystal devices; liquid crystal polymers; microlenses; nematic liquid crystals; optical arrays; optical fabrication; phase separation; anisotropic phase separation; electrically controllable microlens array; ferroelectric LC microlens array; focal length; liquid crystals; memory effect; microlens fabrication; nematic LC-based microlens; transmitted light modulation; ultraviolet curable prepolymer; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Fabrication; Ferroelectric materials; Lenses; Light scattering; Liquid crystals; Microoptics; Optical arrays; Optical modulation; Phased arrays; Anisotropic phase separation; liquid crystal (LC); memory effect; microlens array;
Journal_Title :
Lightwave Technology, Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JLT.2004.841254
