RESUMO
We report on efficient optical beam-steering using a hot-embossed reflective blazed grating in combination with liquid crystal. A numerical simulation of the electrical switching characteristics of the liquid crystal is performed and the results are used in an FDTD optical simulator to analyze the beam deflection. The corresponding experiment on the realized device is performed and is found to be in good agreement. Beam deflection angles of 4.4° upon perpendicular incidence are found with low applied voltages of 3.4 V. By tilting the device with respect to the incoming optical beam it can be electronically switched such that the beam undergoes either total internal reflection or reflection with a tunable angle.
RESUMO
We report on the first ever combination of a thin film of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with a liquid crystal (LC) layer. Many liquid crystal applications use a transparent conductive oxide to switch the liquid crystal. Our proposed processing does not, instead relying on the extremely high dielectric constant of the ferroelectric layer to extend the electric field from widely spaced electrodes over the liquid crystal. It eliminates almost entirely the fringe field problems that arise in nearly all the liquid crystal devices that use multiple addressing electrodes. We show, both via rigorous simulations as well as experiments, that the addition of a PZT layer over the addressing electrodes leads to a markedly improved LC switching performance at distances of up to 30 µm from the addressing electrodes with the current PZT-layer thickness of 0.84 µm. This improvement in switching is used to tune the focal length of the microlens with electrodes spaced at 30 µm.
