Electrically controlled continuous laser beam steering in a liquid crystal based electro-optic waveguide

Abstract

Non-mechanical and continuous beam steering devices are highly desirable in recent laser scanning applications and telecommunication advancements. We report a liquid crystal (LC) core waveguide-based electrically controlled, non-mechanical, and continuous laser beam steering device. The waveguide uses nematic 5CB (4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl) LC as a propagation medium surrounded by PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) polymer cladding, which is realized on ITO coated glass substrates. A pattern of five triangular electrodes is transferred on the substrate using photolithography to create prisms of tunable refractive index in the LC core of the waveguide. The beam steering for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization is theoretically studied and experimentally characterized using a He-Ne laser of λ = 633 nm. A steering angle of −5.4° and +5.7° at 7 Vpp is obtained for TE and TM polarization, respectively, in a waveguide with the prism’s apex angle of 13°. Similarly, a higher steering angle up to 7.3° for TM polarization is demonstrated in the waveguide with an apex angle of 22°. The device is developed using ease of fabrication process and cost-effective materials that operate at relatively low voltages.