光子晶体偏振分光镜的优化设计

提出了一种二维光子晶体偏振分光镜的设计方法,介绍了光栅基板上用Ge/BaF₂ 多层膜实现二维光子晶体偏振分光镜的优化设计.结果表明，TE模式的光子禁带宽度为0083(2πc/a, a是光栅的周期),设计的偏振波长从172μm到24μm，相对带宽为331％.此光子晶体偏振器件制作简单,具有实用性. 关键词： 偏振分光镜 光子晶体 光子禁带     

Nearly-analogue blazed phase grating using high birefringence liquid crystal

Diffraction of liquid crystal gratings has been thoroughly studied for many applications such as diffraction optics, optical processing, and spectral analysis. In pure optical processing one varies the direction of propagation of light beam without any mechanical adjustment. In this work we propose a beam steering device using highly birefringent liquid crystal material. Using a highly birefringent material one can reduce the LC layer thickness needed to achieve 2π of phase modulation and thus reduce the fringing effect caused by deformation of the electric field at the edge of the pixel. Here, we present 1.5-μm thick, high-resolution diffraction grating with non-detectable fringing.     

Simple optical modeling of polarized fluorescent liquid crystal cells

We investigate the fluorescence emission properties of dye-doped nematic liquid crystal (LC) cells with planar and zigzag emissive layers. To explain the measured angular dependence of the emitted light (emission pattern), we introduce a simple optical model, in which both planar and zigzag emissive layers are approximated as a homogeneously oriented flat LC layer with an equivalent anisotropy. It was revealed that all the measured emission patterns under different LC molecular orientation conditions agree well with the optical model, whereas the conventional Lambertian-based distribution function does not coincide with the measured profile in homeotropically aligned LC cells.     

Topological structure in polarization resolved conoscopic patterns for nematic liquid crystal cells

We investigate the polarization structure of coherent light, produced by a convergent light beam transmitted through nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells with different director configurations. Employing solutions to the transmission problem for the case when plane wave propagates through an anisotropic layer, we analyze the arrangement of the topological elements, such as polarization singularities (C points with circular polarization and L lines with linear polarization), saddle points and extrema of polarization azimuth. We observe transformations of the topological structure under the variation of the incident light ellipticity and represent it by corresponding trajectories of topological elements in three-dimensional space. For the cells with uniform and non-uniform director configuration we describe the processes of creation/annihilation of C point pairs, which can be controlled precisely in the case of the cell with non-uniform director. Our experimental measurements for the homeotropically oriented NLC cells are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions.     

Low threshold and high contrast polymer dispersed liquid crystal grating based on twisted nematic polarization modulator

An electrically tunable mode is proposed to overcome the bottleneck problem of a conventional polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) grating and realize its low threshold and high contrast through an alignment-controlled PDLC. The results indicate that the threshold voltage V_PP of the grating is as low as 0.75–0.8 V, the saturation voltage V_pp is 7 V and the contrast ratio of the grating reaches 245, which is about three times larger than the conventional PDLC grating. Stability testing indicates a stable state of contrast during a long time. PACS 42.40.Eq; 42.70.Df; 42.79.Kr     

High-efficiency and fast-response tunable phase grating using a blue phase liquid crystal

We demonstrate a tunable phase grating using a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal. Because of the electric-field-induced rectangularlike phase profile, a high diffraction efficiency of 40% is achieved. Moreover, this device shows submillisecond response time. The proposed tunable phase grating holds great potential for photonics and display applications.     

用于彩色液晶显示器的色分离光栅的优化设计

利用光栅实现液晶显示器中的色分离可以提高液晶显示器对光能的利用率。为了提高光能利用率,对光栅台阶数进行了优化设计,经矢量衍射理论计算,优化后的多台阶色分离光栅的能量利用率达到了65.3%,与采用滤色片的方法相比,光能利用率提高了近一倍;与三台阶相比,光能利用率提高了9.3%。     

Huge retardation of grating formation in holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

Phototriggered kinetics is investigated in the dark for holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal gratings. Subsequently to holographic recording, the diffraction efficiency first slightly increases, then decreases, and afterwards starts to grow again. The remarkable growth continues for several days until the diffraction efficiency stabilizes at values several times larger than the initial ones. The initial increase is attributed to a dark polymerization reaction as confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The slow process is associated with the kinetics of a phase-separation mechanism. The non-monotonic behaviour of the diffraction efficiency is explained by superposition of refractive-index and extinction modulations. PACS 42.40.Ht; 61.30.Pq; 42.70.Df; 64.70.Md     

Detailed investigation of self-imaging in multimode photonic crystal waveguides for applications in power and polarization beam splitters

Properties of the self-imaging effect based on multimode interference (MMI) in multimode photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) are investigated and analyzed in detail. By combining photonic band gap (PBG) and total internal reflection (TIR) effects in PCWs, self-imaging phenomena are achieved for both TE and TM polarizations. To observe the images reproduced by this self-imaging phenomenon, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations are performed on a multi-mode PCW. From these numerical simulations the reproduced images are identified and their positions along the propagation axis are described. We also, present the design and simulation of novel polarization-insensitive power splitter and polarization splitter. The simulation results show that the optimized devices have excellent transmission efficiencies as well as wide operating frequency bandwidths and small structure size. So, the proposed devices are promising and may play an important role in high-density photonic integrated circuits in the future.     

剪切聚合物分散液晶散射偏光特性

介绍了拉伸聚合物分散液晶和散射偏光片概念,实验制备了剪切聚合物分散液晶样品,给出了对聚合物分散液晶样品施加剪切应力的偏光特性光谱分析.实验结果表明,吸收偏光片前置和后置样品的散射偏光效果相同,样品在绿光550nm波长处最大透光率T//～60%,最小透光率T┴～10%,偏振度P～70%.实验结果对于其他散射偏光片具有普遍...     

Relaxed fabrication tolerance for self-imaging photonic crystal waveguide splitters using a tapered multimode interference region

The power imbalance between different waveguide outputs is compensated by manipulating the dispersion of the guided propagation in the multimode interference (MMI) region. This is attainable using a tapered region at the beginning of the MMI region that has been verified through simulation and experiment. From this, the fabrication tolerance for the diameters of holes in a tapered 1×3 photonic crystal waveguide (PhCW) splitter is relaxed up to a range of at least 27 nm. The output power is well-balanced to within 1 dB. The effective bandwidth of the splitters shifts only around 13 nm, for a reduction of 10 nm in the diameter of the PhCW holes. The optimized component is an outstanding ultracompact 1×3 splitter for the photonic integrated circuit (PIC).     

A novel polarization modulator for a moiré system with grating imaging

A polarization modulator based on splitting with a Savart plate and rotation of an analyzer for a moirésystem with grating imaging is presented, and its modulation principle is analyzed.     

Novel liquid crystal multistage circular polarization switch for three-dimensional laser pico projectors

Crosstalk is one of the most important factors affecting the image quality of polarization switching three-dimensional (3D) projectors. The variation in the phase difference of a polarization switch owing to dispersion degrades crosstalk performance. We propose a novel multistage circular polarization switch comprising liquid crystal devices using a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in-plane fast switch and a thick nematic liquid crystal (NLC) retarder. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept model of a 3D laser pico projector using a scanning MEMS head in combination with the polarization switch. We also evaluate the crosstalk and 3D performance of the projector.     

全息液晶/聚合物透射光栅光学各向异性的研究

基于聚合物支撑(polymer scaffolding)形貌的全息液晶/聚合物透射光栅, 系统研究了光栅的光学各向异性. 在这种形貌的光栅内, 液晶不是以液滴的形态存在于富液晶区, 据此建立了相应光栅的简化模型, 然后在各向异性耦合波理论框架下研究了光栅的衍射特性. 详尽的衍射效率实验值和计算值比较, 很好解释了液晶/聚合物光栅的光学各向异性, 也证实了液晶分子大致沿着光栅矢量排列.     

Optimal design of achromatic quarter-wave plate using twisted nematic liquid crystal cells

A novel configuration of achromatic quarter-wave plate using two twisted nematic liquid crystal (TNLC) cells is presented. The 4 × 4 Mueller matrix is used to describe the optical properties of the liquid crystal cells. The universal tabu (Utabu) search method is used for optimizing the structural parameters. Simulation results indicate that the designed structure is capable of turning a linearly polarized light into perfectly circularly polarized light and vice versa in wavelength range 1200–1650 nm. The manufacturing tolerances of cell gap, twisted angle, etc. are good.PACS: 42.79.K     

Flexo-electric polarization and anchoring energy for a nematic liquid crystal in a hybrid cell

Summary The flexo-electric polarization of hybrid nematic cells filled with 5 CB was measured as a function of cell thickness. To this aim the pyroelectric response of a nematic layer with small amount of light absorbing dye dissolved was detected in a nematic temperature range. From the experimental data the angle of the director deviation at the homeotropic boundary was calculated as a function of cell thickness. This dependence allows the qualitative determination of the shape of the potential well for the director deviation which is inconsistent with Rapini’s sinesquared form. The ?apparent? Rapini’s anchoring energy varies with a surface director angle (at the homeotropic boundary) from 5·10⁻³ to 3.5·10⁻² erg·cm⁻². Work presented at the second USSR-Italy Bilateral Meeting on Liquid Crystals held in Moscow, September 15–21, 1988.     

Threshold property of a nematic liquid crystal cell with two grating surface substrates

A grating surface can drive the liquid crystal molecules to orientate along the direction parallel or vertical to the projected plane of the grating surface. The nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cell manufactured with two pre-treated grating surface substrates may realize the vertical display, parallel display and twist display. In this paper, the threshold property of this NLC cell is investigated systematically. With the Frank elastic theory and the equivalent anchoring energy formula of grating surface substrate, the analytic expressions of the threshold voltage related to three displays are obtained, which are dependent on their geometrical parameters such as amplitude δ and pitch λ of the grating surface substrate. For a certain anchoring strength, the threshold voltage increases or decreases with the increase of the value δ/λ of the different displays.     

Tunable topographical cellulose matrices for electro-optical liquid crystal cells

In this work we have used acetoxypropylcellulose (APC) to produce free standing solid films (∼60 μm) that were used for assembling electro-optical devices. Thin films were obtained from concentrated lyotropic solutions of cellulose derivatives. Induced by the cast and shearing preparation conditions wrinkles and band textures can be observed in their free-surface plane. In order to eliminate and control these textures we used a process similar to that introducted in literature [1] which consists of storing the films in the same solvent-vapour atmosphere as the solution system. Lyotropic APC liquid crystalline solutions in dymethylacetamide (DMA) with crosslinker were prepared, thin films were obtained by using a shear/casting technique and stored in the solvent-vapour atmosphere until a planar structure was achieved. The dried crosslinked films were analyzed by optical polarised microscopy (POM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The films with different topographies were used to produce optical cells composed by the cellulose derivative film covered on both free surfaces by a layer of the nematic liquid crystal E7 and placed between two transparent conducting substrates. The electro-optical properties of these cells were obtained.     

Fabrication of alignment layer free flexible liquid crystal cells using thermal nanoimprint lithography

In this article, thermal nanoimprint lithography (thermal-NIL) has been utilized to transfer the microgroove pattern onto the plastic substrate. Without coating alignment polymer, the microgrooves on the flexible substrates can align liquid crystals (LCs) directly. The flexible LC cell is shown to maintain comparable electro-optical properties while bending. The plastic film and the alignment layer integrated into an alignment substrate could effectively prevent cracks of the additional polymer alignment layer during the bending process. This method is applicable to the roll-to-roll process to increase the production efficiency.