Abstract
Polarization independent liquid crystal (LC) microlens arrays based on controlling the spatial distribution of the Kerr constants of blue phase LC are simulated. Each sub-lens with a parabolic distribution of Kerr constants results in a parabolic phase profile when a homogeneous electric field is applied. We evaluate the phase distribution under different applied voltages, and the focusing properties of the microlens arrays are simulated. We also calculate polarization dependency of the microlenses arrays at oblique incidence of light. The impact of this study is to provide polarizer-free, electrically tunable focusing microlens arrays with simple electrode design based on the Kerr effect.
Highlights
Liquid crystal (LC) microlens arrays are important in applications of 2D/3D switching, fiber coupling, and sensors [1,2,3]
In 2010, we proposed a polarization independent polymer stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (PSBP-LC) microlens arrays based on the electric-field-induced Kerr effect, the field-induced birefringence is proportional to the electric field squared [11]
The Kerr effect exists in many LC materials, such as polymer stabilized isotropic phase liquid crystals, nematic liquid crystals, blue phase liquid crystals, and even ferroelectric liquid crystals [12,13,14]
Summary
Liquid crystal (LC) microlens arrays are important in applications of 2D/3D switching, fiber coupling, and sensors [1,2,3]. Most of proposed structures of LC microlens arrays require at least one polarizer. In 2010, we proposed a polarization independent polymer stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (PSBP-LC) microlens arrays based on the electric-field-induced Kerr effect, the field-induced birefringence is proportional to the electric field squared [11]. We proposed polarization independent LC microlens arrays based on controlling the distribution of the Kerr constants of blue phase LC (BPLC). The simulated results indicate the distribution of the Kerr constants of BPLC results in a parabolic optical phase shift and the proposed microlens arrays are capable of imaging. The purpose of this study is mainly to provide a way to achieve polarizer-free, electrically tunable focusing microlens arrays with simple electrode design based on the Kerr effect
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