Liquid crystal device for compensating for aberration, optical pickup including liquid crystal device, and optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing optical pickup
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing an aberration-compensating liquid crystal device, comprising:
- positioning a gray scale mask having an absorption rate distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected on a liquid crystal cell containing a mixture of liquid crystals and monomers injected between a pair of transparent substrates; and
irradiating the liquid crystal cell on which the gray scale mask has been positioned with UV light so that the monomers undergo photopolymerization into polymer and phase separation into a polymer-existing region and a liquid crystal-existing region, thereby forming a liquid crystal layer between the substrates having a phase difference distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Provided are an aberration-compensating liquid crystal device, a method of manufacturing the same, an optical pickup including the liquid crystal device, and an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus employing the optical pickup. The method of manufacturing an aberration-compensating liquid crystal device comprises: positioning a gray scale mask having an absorption rate distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected on a liquid crystal cell containing a mixture of liquid crystals and monomers injected between a pair of transparent substrates; and irradiating the liquid crystal cell on which the gray scale mask has been positioned with UV light so that the monomers undergo photopolymerization into polymer and phase separation into a polymer-existing region and a liquid crystal-existing region, thereby forming a liquid crystal layer having a phase difference distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing an aberration-compensating liquid crystal device, comprising:
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positioning a gray scale mask having an absorption rate distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected on a liquid crystal cell containing a mixture of liquid crystals and monomers injected between a pair of transparent substrates; and
irradiating the liquid crystal cell on which the gray scale mask has been positioned with UV light so that the monomers undergo photopolymerization into polymer and phase separation into a polymer-existing region and a liquid crystal-existing region, thereby forming a liquid crystal layer between the substrates having a phase difference distribution corresponding to that of aberrations to be corrected. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A liquid crystal device for compensating for aberration comprising:
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a pair of transparent substrates; and
a liquid crystal layer formed between the substrates having a phase difference distribution corresponding to the distribution of aberrations to be corrected, wherein the liquid crystal layer is formed by positioning a gray scale mask having an absorption rate distribution corresponding to the distribution of aberrations to be corrected on a liquid crystal cell containing a mixture of liquid crystals and monomers injected between the substrates; and
irradiating the liquid crystal cell on which the gray scale mask has been positioned with UV light so that the monomers undergo photopolymerization into polymer and phase separation into a polymer-existing region and a liquid crystal-existing region. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An optical pickup comprising:
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a light source;
an objective lens arranged to focus light emitted by the light source to a spot on an optical information storage medium;
a photo-detector arranged to receive light reflected from the optical information storage medium and detect an information signal and/or an error signal; and
a liquid crystal device arranged to compensate for aberration, and comprising;
a pair of substrates; and
a liquid crystal layer formed between the substrates having a phase difference distribution corresponding to the distribution of aberrations to be corrected, wherein the liquid crystal layer is formed by positioning a gray scale mask having an absorption rate distribution corresponding to the distribution of aberrations to be corrected on a liquid crystal cell containing a mixture of liquid crystals and monomers injected between the substrates; and
irradiating the liquid crystal cell on which the gray scale mask has been positioned with UV light so that the monomers undergo photopolymerization into polymer and phase separation into a polymer-existing region and a liquid crystal-existing region. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An optical pickup comprising:
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a light source;
an objective lens arranged to focus light emitted from the light source on an optical information storage medium;
a photo-detector arranged to receive light reflected from the optical information storage medium and detect an information signal and/or an error signal;
a first liquid crystal device arranged such that a direction of polarization of light emitted from the light source is coincident with a major axis direction of liquid crystal molecules included therein before an application of an electric field in order to correct aberration of light incident on a surface of the optical information storage medium; and
a second liquid crystal device arranged such that a direction of polarization of light reflected from the surface of the optical information storage medium is coincident with a major axis direction of liquid crystal molecules included thereto in order to correct aberration of light reflected from the surface of the optical information storage medium to the photo-detector. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification