Non-mechanical optical beam-steering of a liquid crystal laser

Zhang, Guanxiong; Elston, Steve J.; Schreier, Andy; Faulkner, Grahame; Surampudi, Atchutananda; O’Brien, Dominic; Morris, Stephen M.

doi:10.1016/j.optlastec.2022.108623

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Besides the primary beam upon diffraction, spots at other states can also be observed in experiments. These additional spots, which possess significantly lower intensities compared with the primary beam, have been reported by previous research that can be divided into three categories: zero-order, sub-order, and opposite-order spots, with an explanation and theoretical analysis of their appearance [13].…”

Section: Theorysupporting

confidence: 53%

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Free-Space Optical Communication Link With Liquid Crystal Beam-Steering

Zhang,

Schreier,

Wang

et al. 2023

IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.

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In this letter, we present a non-mechanical 2D beam-steering system suitable for optical wireless communication. Steering is achieved using polarization gratings combined with nematic liquid crystal cells operating as voltage-controlled polarization shifters. These steering elements are combined with a holographic diffuser matched to the discrete steering angles of the polarization grating, enabling continuous angular coverage. Beam-steering is also used at the receiver, allowing a large collection area receiver with a relatively narrow field of view to be used. The approach presented here could, in principle, be applied to a broad range of wavelengths (including visible light and near-infrared wavelengths). Furthermore, the technique does not inherently limit the transmission data rate. Besides, it improves the link margin and offers the potential for a bidirectional steered link using the same beam-steering elements. Details of the approach are set out in the paper, followed by experimental results from a 50 Mbit/s optical link operating over one meter. Future directions are then discussed.

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Section: Theorysupporting

confidence: 53%

“…The LC layer is 5 µm thick. The PGs (Edmund Optics) are designed to operate at 550 nm with a diffraction angle of ±10 • , so there is a small amount of undiffracted light due to the mismatch with the laser wavelength (520 nm) [13].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free-Space Optical Communication Link With Liquid Crystal Beam-Steering

Zhang,

Schreier,

Wang

et al. 2023

IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.

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“…through optical beam steering. Mechanical beam-steering systems, which can be realized using fast steering mirrors (FSMs), rotating polygons, or micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirrors, offer reliable performance, but they usually suffer from problems in terms of size, speed, and energy consumption [37]- [41]. Therefore, use of non-mechanical beam-steering systems has been receiving an increasing interest [41].…”

Section: A Directed Owcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mechanical beam-steering systems, which can be realized using fast steering mirrors (FSMs), rotating polygons, or micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirrors, offer reliable performance, but they usually suffer from problems in terms of size, speed, and energy consumption [37]- [41]. Therefore, use of non-mechanical beam-steering systems has been receiving an increasing interest [41]. One solution is the use of spatial light modulators (SLMs), which can be used to support point-to-multi-point operation when manipulated in spatial division mode [42].…”

Section: A Directed Owcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical Wireless Communications: Illuminating the Path for Cooper's Law

Eltokhey,

Bashir,

Younus

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…By 2012, Boulder Nonlinear Systems (BNS) had made liquid crystal polarization gratings into commercial products [16]. With the continuous breakthrough of the response time, diffraction efficiency and angle range of liquid crystal polarization grating [17,18], it has been applied in the liquid crystal laser [19], wide viewing angle holographic 3D display system and virtual reality (VR) [20,21]. With its small size, fast response and non-mechanical beam deflection, the PG is very attractive to the FSO networking system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on one-to-two-point FSO system based on liquid crystal variable retarder cascade polarization grating

yu,

Lin,

Wang

et al. 2023

Preprint

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We experimentally demonstrate a one-to-two-point free-space optical communication system based on non-mechanical beam servo device in the laboratory. After the initial pointing, two sets of liquid crystal variable retarder cascade polarization gratings to perform non-mechanical beam servo and realize switch or work simultaneously of two communication links. The non-mechanical beam steerer having a 15.44° field and a system emission efficiency higher than 77%. The corresponding response times of links at 2, 4 and 10 Hz are 46.7, 43.8 and 42.1 ms, respectively. In the quasi-static condition, the sensitivities of the two links under the data rate of 10.3125 Gbps are -23.18 and -23.01 dBm, respectively, indicating that the service transmission capability of the multi-node beam control system.

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Non-mechanical optical beam-steering of a liquid crystal laser

Cited by 9 publications

References 35 publications

Free-Space Optical Communication Link With Liquid Crystal Beam-Steering

Free-Space Optical Communication Link With Liquid Crystal Beam-Steering

Optical Wireless Communications: Illuminating the Path for Cooper's Law

Research on one-to-two-point FSO system based on liquid crystal variable retarder cascade polarization grating

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