Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments
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 ful...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-06-01
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Series: | Crystals |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/9/6/292 |
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author | Ziqian He Fangwang Gou Ran Chen Kun Yin Tao Zhan Shin-Tson Wu |
author_facet | Ziqian He Fangwang Gou Ran Chen Kun Yin Tao Zhan Shin-Tson Wu |
author_sort | Ziqian He |
collection | DOAJ |
description | 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. |
first_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:41:41Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-03d9fe5b9bbf4e4a8fa6f8dd886d09f2 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2073-4352 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-13T06:41:41Z |
publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Crystals |
spelling | doaj.art-03d9fe5b9bbf4e4a8fa6f8dd886d09f22022-12-22T02:57:43ZengMDPI AGCrystals2073-43522019-06-019629210.3390/cryst9060292cryst9060292Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future DevelopmentsZiqian He0Fangwang Gou1Ran Chen2Kun Yin3Tao Zhan4Shin-Tson Wu5College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USACollege of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USACollege of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USACollege of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USACollege of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USACollege of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, USAContinuous, 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.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/9/6/292liquid crystalsbeam steeringoptical phased arraysliquid-crystal waveguidesPancharatnam‐Berry phasevolume gratingsfast response time |
spellingShingle | Ziqian He Fangwang Gou Ran Chen Kun Yin Tao Zhan Shin-Tson Wu Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments Crystals liquid crystals beam steering optical phased arrays liquid-crystal waveguides Pancharatnam‐Berry phase volume gratings fast response time |
title | Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments |
title_full | Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments |
title_fullStr | Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments |
title_full_unstemmed | Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments |
title_short | Liquid Crystal Beam Steering Devices: Principles, Recent Advances, and Future Developments |
title_sort | liquid crystal beam steering devices principles recent advances and future developments |
topic | liquid crystals beam steering optical phased arrays liquid-crystal waveguides Pancharatnam‐Berry phase volume gratings fast response time |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/9/6/292 |
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