5 March 2021Suppression of defects in liquid crystal filled polymer structures using materials exhibiting a frequency dependent dielectric anisotropy inversion
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.
Switchable optical elements incorporating polymer structure and a liquid crystal material offer devices with a voltage controlled phase difference at low cost. The polymer structure may be fabricated using established replication techniques. Earlier work has demonstrated such devices with good optical quality and high diffraction efficiencies but with geometric restrictions due to the formation of defects within the device in some situations. Earlier work used surface forces from an aligning surface to establish the director orientation of the liquid crystal. In this work improved control of the director is achieved through the use of a liquid crystal material exhibiting a reversal of the dielectric anisotropy at different driving frequencies. Such a material allows the director to be actively driven either towards homeotropic or planar alignment depending upon the frequency of the drive waveform. Use of a liquid crystal material with a dielectric anisotropy inversion has the advantage in this case that the liquid crystal orientation is less dependent upon surface forces.
Garry A. Lester andAdrian M. Strudwick
"Suppression of defects in liquid crystal filled polymer structures using materials exhibiting a frequency dependent dielectric anisotropy inversion", Proc. SPIE 11707, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XVI, 117070A (5 March 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2578738
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.
The alert did not successfully save. Please try again later.
Garry A. Lester, Adrian M. Strudwick, "Suppression of defects in liquid crystal filled polymer structures using materials exhibiting a frequency dependent dielectric anisotropy inversion," Proc. SPIE 11707, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XVI, 117070A (5 March 2021); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2578738