Fast-Response Liquid Crystal Lens Doped with Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Hui Li,Xiaolin Xie,Fan Pan,Yuntao Wu,Yanduo Zhang

doi:10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12913

Hui Li, Xiaolin Xie + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12913

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Abstract

In this paper, a relatively fast-response liquid crystal (LC) lens was proposed, which was fabricated by a simple method. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were utilized in fabricating the LC lens. As MWCNTs were doped into the LCs, the dielectric anisotropy of the mixture changed, which was the key factor in solving the technical barrier of slow response time. In experiments, the effects of doping with MWCNTs were demonstrated. The concentration of doped MWCNTs was discussed in detail, and the best concentration and doping method were analyzed. The relationship between the concentration and response time was also obtained. This LC lens had a sub-millisecond response time, which was a relatively fast response time in comparison to conventional LC lenses of pristine LCs. Thus, this proposed method could be considered as a new method to realize fast-response LC lens.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.22.2.12913

Highlights

The birefringence of liquid crystals (LCs) is well known, and its electrically tunable birefringence has been utilized to fabricate different LC products, such as LC lenses [1, 2], LC spatial light modulators [3, 4], LC displays [5], and LC Fabry-Perot devices [6, 7]
The refractive index and other optical properties of LCs doped with CNT have been investigated [11, 12], as well as the refractive index of LCs doped with Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) [13]
The electro-optical properties of LC lens doped with MWCNTs were studied

Summary

Introduction

The birefringence of liquid crystals (LCs) is well known, and its electrically tunable birefringence has been utilized to fabricate different LC products, such as LC lenses [1, 2], LC spatial light modulators [3, 4], LC displays [5], and LC Fabry-Perot devices [6, 7]. Many studies have been conducted on how to utilize LCs for fabricating imaging optical lenses [8, 9]. There are only a few works on the inside doped material of the LC lens. The research presented considers doping of LC material by carbon nanotubes, which will be a relatively simple method to solve that problem. According to the research results, in theory, a LC lens doped with MWCNT in principle can be achieved

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