Design of Tunable Liquid Crystal Lenses with a Parabolic Phase Profile

Abstract

An electrode pattern design generating a parabolic voltage distribution, in combination with usage of the linear response range of the liquid crystal (LC) material, has been recently proposed to obtain nearly ideal phase profiles for LC lenses. This technique features low driving voltages, simple structure, compact design, and the absence of high-resistivity (HR) layers. In this work, the universal design principle is discussed in detail, which is applicable not only to LC lens design, but also to other LC devices with any phase profile. Several electrode patterns are presented to form a parabolic voltage distribution. An equivalent electric circuit of the LC lens based on the design principle is developed, and the simulation results are given. In the experiments, an LC lens using the feasible parameters is prepared, and its high-quality performance is demonstrated.