Arbitrary patterned anisotropic diffractive optical elements using the galvanometer polarization drawing method: application in fabricating polarization-dependent liquid-crystal Fresnel lens cells

Abstract

To fabricate two-dimensional anisotropic diffractive optical elements, the polarization drawing method using polarization-sensitive liquid-crystal polymers and a galvano scanner offers a flexible approach. This method produces an arbitrary anisotropic distribution in the polymer films by controlling the polarization state of an ultraviolet laser beam during scanning. The fabrication of two patterned anisotropic diffractive elements, which cannot be fabricated using conventional methods of polarization holography, demonstrates its efficacy. In addition, we also fabricate a liquid-crystal Fresnel lens using this method. Our approach has the potential to produce highly functionalized diffractive optical elements having complex anisotropic spatial distributions.