Yousefzadeh C, Van Rynbach A, Bryant D, Bos P. High-efficiency, tunable, fringe-field switching-mode beam steering based on a liquid crystal Pancharatnam phase.
APPLIED OPTICS 2020;
59:10706-10718. [PMID:
33361890 DOI:
10.1364/ao.404603]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We have fabricated, characterized, and analyzed a recently proposed non-mechanical beam steering device based on the Pancharatnam-Berry phase in a liquid crystal. The architecture of our proposed device employs a linear array of phase control elements (PCEs) to locally control the orientation of the liquid crystal director into a cycloidal pattern to deflect transmitted light. The PCEs are comprised of a fringe-field switching electrode structure that can provide a variable in-plane electric field. Detailed optimization of the director configuration is in a good agreement with experimental results showing that the half-wave retardation condition has been uniformly achieved across the aperture. Moreover, efficiency simulations using a finite-difference time-domain algorithm verify a high beam steering efficiency for the proposed device.
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