Reflective liquid crystal hybrid beam-steerer

Willekens, Oliver; Jia, Xiaoning; Vervaeke, Michael; Shang, Xiaobing; Baghdasaryan, Tigran; Thienpont, Hugo; Smet, Herbert De; Neyts, Kristiaan; Beeckman, Jeroen

doi:10.1364/oe.24.021541

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Good LC alignment may be difficult to establish within the periodic micro-structures. It is gratifying that the LC alignment in this kind of devices has been proved possible using established technology, such as rubbing alignment, oblique SiOx evaporation and photo-alignment [63,64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Optical Beam Shaping Based on Liquid Crystals and Polymer Micro-Structures

et al. 2020

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Emerging applications requiring light beam manipulation, such as high-efficiency sunlight concentrators for solar cells, switchable micro-lens arrays for autostereoscopic displays, tunable lenses for augmented reality goggles, auto-focusing spectacles, and smart contact lenses, mostly depend on one or more active optical components with the desired and controllable beam modifying functionalities, preferably manufactured at relatively low cost. Recent progress in research on components based on the combination of liquid crystals (LCs) and various polymer micro-structures is reviewed in this paper. It is found that such components can address the demands appropriately and have the potential of paving the way for large-scale applications of active optical beam shaping components.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active Optical Beam Shaping Based on Liquid Crystals and Polymer Micro-Structures

et al. 2020

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“…There has been a trend toward the use of LCs as front-row materials for light beam and intensity manipulators, optical phased arrays, and beam steerers [20]- [23]. LCs embedded in a layered structure are able to control reflection and refraction of light at a specific temperature of the cavity [24].…”

Section: B Lc-based Drismentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital RIS (DRIS): The Future of Digital Beam Management in RIS-Assisted OWC Systems

Ndjiongue,

Ngatched,

Dobre

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) have been recently introduced to optical wireless communication (OWC) networks to resolve skip areas and improve the signal-to-noise ratio at the user's end. In OWC networks, RIS are based on mirrors or metasurfaces. Metasurfaces have evolved significantly over the last few years. As a result, coding, digital, programmable, and information metamaterials have been developed. The advantage of these materials is that they can enable digital signal processing (DSP) techniques. For the first time, this paper proposes the use of digital RIS (DRIS) in OWC systems. We discuss the concept of DRIS and the application of DSP methods to the physical material. In addition, we examine metamaterials for optical DRIS with liquid crystals serving as the front row material. Finally, we present a design example and discuss future research directions.

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“…The fabricated PMMA blazed gratings are much larger, such that applying the same mechanism (variable diffraction order blazed grating), the imprinted blazed gratings can switch among higher orders. Two configurations have been proposed; namely, the transmissive [48] and reflective [49] modes, as shown in Figures 6a and 6b, respectively. In transmissive mode, the voltage-off state provides the highest steering angle.…”

Section: Compound Blazed Gratingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2019

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Continuous, wide field-of-view, high-efficiency, and fast-response beam steering devices are desirable in a plethora of applications. Liquid crystals (LCs)-soft, bi-refringent, and self-assembled materials which respond to various external stimuli-are especially promising for fulfilling these demands. In this paper, we review recent advances in LC beam steering devices. We first describe the general operation principles of LC beam steering techniques. Next, we delve into different kinds of beam steering devices, compare their pros and cons, and propose a new LC-cladding waveguide beam steerer using resistive electrodes and present our simulation results. Finally, two future development challenges are addressed: Fast response time for mid-wave infrared (MWIR) beam steering, and device hybridization for large-angle, high-efficiency, and continuous beam steering. To achieve fast response times for MWIR beam steering using a transmission-type optical phased array, we develop a low-loss polymer-network liquid crystal and characterize its electro-optical properties.

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Reflective liquid crystal hybrid beam-steerer

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

Active Optical Beam Shaping Based on Liquid Crystals and Polymer Micro-Structures

Active Optical Beam Shaping Based on Liquid Crystals and Polymer Micro-Structures

Digital RIS (DRIS): The Future of Digital Beam Management in RIS-Assisted OWC Systems

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

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