In this paper, we present an electrically controllable microoptical component for light beam steering and light intensity distribution built on the combination of nematic liquid crystal (LC) and polymer microprisms. Polymer microprism arrays are fabricated using soft embossing with elastic polydimethylsiloxane molds and ultraviolet curable resins. Surface profiling measurements show that the dimensions of the replicated prisms closely approximate those of the master prism. Two different LC alignment techniques were employed: hybrid rubbing alignment and obliquely evaporated SiO 2 alignment, both of which result in proper alignment of the LC molecules along the prism groove direction. The operation voltage of the LC components is relatively low (10 V rms ). The steering angle of a green laser beam was experimentally studied as a function of applied voltage, and a steering range of 3 was found. The active LC components also effectively deflect a collimated white light beam over a steering angle of about 2 with an efficiency of 27%-33%. All the optical measurements are in agreement with theoretical calculations based on Snell's law.

We demonstrate a new successful technique for inducing a monodomain in blue phase (BP) liquid crystals (BPLCs). By application of an AC voltage during the cooling or heating of the material into the BP temperature range, a fairly homogeneous BP area was obtained, compared to the case without voltage. We determined that applying a voltage of 3.3V/mu m was very effective in terms of obtaining a monodomain: for four of the seven different applied cooling/heating rates an area ratio of more than 99% was obtained for one particular BP orientation. This study describes a successful and replicable technique to make a BPLC monodomain, which is important for the development of BPLCs and other applications

We report on the first ever combination of a thin film of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with a liquid crystal (LC) layer. Many liquid crystal applications use a transparent conductive oxide to switch the liquid crystal. Our proposed processing does not, instead relying on the extremely high dielectric constant of the ferroelectric layer to extend the electric field from widely spaced electrodes over the liquid crystal. It eliminates almost entirely the fringe field problems that arise in nearly all the liquid crystal devices that use multiple addressing electrodes. We show, both via rigorous simulations as well as experiments, that the addition of a PZT layer over the addressing electrodes leads to a markedly improved LC switching performance at distances of up to 30 µm from the addressing electrodes with the current PZT-layer thickness of 0.84 µm. This improvement in switching is used to tune the focal length of the microlens with electrodes spaced at 30 µm.

Liquid crystals are mostly known for their use in displays, but over the past decade these materials have been applied in a number of other devices such as tunable lenses or beam steering devices. A common technique to realize a gradual electric field profile as is required to obtain a gradual refractive index profile in these applications is the use of weakly conductive materials. The weakly conductive layers are able to spread the voltage profile which is applied through well-conductive electrodes at the side of the weakly conductive layer. The simulation and design of such structures is not trivial because two or three dimensional quasi-static electric field profiles need to be calculated. This is due to the fact that the resistivity of the conductive layers and the dielectric properties of the liquid crystal are coupled. An exact solution requires solving a number of coupled differential equations. In this paper, we develop a model to simulate the RC-effects with an approximate model

We report on efficient optical beam-steering using a hot-embossed reflective blazed grating in combination with liquid crystal. A numerical simulation of the electrical switching characteristics of the liquid crystal is performed and the results are used in an FDTD optical simulator to analyze the beam deflection. The corresponding experiment on the realized device is performed and is found to be in good agreement. Beam deflection angles of 4.4 • upon perpendicular incidence are found with low applied voltages of 3.4 V. By tilting the device with respect to the incoming optical beam it can be electronically switched such that the beam undergoes either total internal reflection or reflection with a tunable angle.