Liquid crystal waveguides: new devices enabled by >1000 waves of optical phase control

Abstract

A new electro-optic waveguide platform, which provides unprecedented voltage control over optical phase delays (> 2mm), with very low loss (< 0.5 dB/cm) and rapid response time (sub millisecond), will be presented. This technology, developed by Vescent Photonics, is based upon a unique liquid-crystal waveguide geometry, which exploits the tremendous electro-optic response of liquid crystals while circumventing their historic limitations. The waveguide geometry provides nematic relaxation speeds in the 10's of microseconds and LC scattering losses that are reduced by orders of magnitude from bulk transmissive LC optics. The exceedingly large optical phase delays accessible with this technology enable the design and construction of a new class of previously unrealizable photonic devices. Examples include: 2-D analog non-mechanical beamsteerers, chip-scale widely tunable lasers, chip-scale Fourier transform spectrometer (< 5 nm resolution demonstrated), widely tunable micro-ring resonators, tunable lenses, ultra-low power (< 5 microWatts) optical switches, true optical time delay devices for phased array antennas, and many more. All of these devices may benefit from established manufacturing technologies and ultimately may be as inexpensive as a calculator display. Furthermore, this new integrated photonic architecture has applications in a wide array of commercial and defense markets including: remote sensing, micro-LADAR, OCT, FSO, laser illumination, phased array radar, etc. Performance attributes of several example devices and application data will be presented. In particular, we will present a non-mechanical beamsteerer that steers light in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions.

Novel Approach for Controllable Polarization Beam Splitter: Design and Simulation

“…1(c). For this configuration, its fabrication is similar to that of the conventional polymer waveguide with liquid crystal [18]. The fabrication process is briefly described as follows.…”

Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments

“…As mentioned in Section 2, LC prisms can only achieve relatively small steering angles, due to the limitations in LC refractive index change and prism geometry [43]. However, the interaction length can be dramatically increased by guiding light using a waveguide, as Vescent Photonics demonstrated about a decade ago [55]. The main feature of in-plane steering is plotted in Figure 8.…”

Liquid crystal clad waveguide laser scanner and waveguide amplifier for LADAR and sensing applications

“…In this paper we will describe a unique electro-optic architecture that provides unprecedented voltage control over optical phase (>2 mm demonstrated). 1 This enables, for the first time, very wide field-of-regard EO laser scanners that are also inherently simple (only a few control electrodes). As detailed in this paper, the EO scanners we present here can be designed/adapted to meet the unique performance requirements for satellite based laser sensors.…”