LIQUID CRYSTAL BEAM CONTROL DEVICE
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A liquid crystal (LC) beam broadening device comprising:
- a first LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back first substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back first substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front first substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back first substrate and said first LC sandwich causes broadening of a first linear polarization of light in two directions; and
a second LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back second substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back second substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front second substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back second substrate and said second LC sandwich causes broadening of a second linear polarization of light in two directions.
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Abstract
Liquid crystal light beam control devices and their manufacture are described. Beneficial aspects of beam broadening devices employed for controlled illumination and architectural purposes are presented including improving beam divergence control, improving beam broadening dynamic range control, beam divergence preconditioning, improving projected beam intensity uniformity.
7 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A liquid crystal (LC) beam broadening device comprising:
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a first LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back first substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back first substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front first substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back first substrate and said first LC sandwich causes broadening of a first linear polarization of light in two directions; and a second LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back second substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back second substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front second substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back second substrate and said second LC sandwich causes broadening of a second linear polarization of light in two directions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A liquid crystal (LC) beam broadening device comprising:
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a first LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back first substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back first substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front first substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back first substrate; a second LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back second substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back second substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front second substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back second substrate; a third LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back first substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back first substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front first substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back first substrate; a fourth LC sandwich having LC material contained within opposed front and back second substrates to have a homeotropic ground state orientation, the front and the back second substrates each having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments, wherein the segments on the front second substrate extend orthogonally to the segments on the back second substrate; and wherein the electrode segments of said first LC sandwich are rotationally offset from being parallel or orthogonal with respect to the electrode segments of said second LC sandwich by 0 to about 8 degrees, the electrode segments of said third LC sandwich are rotationally offset from being parallel or orthogonal with respect to the electrode segments of said fourth LC sandwich by 0 to about 8 degrees, and the electrode segments of said second LC sandwich are rotationally offset with respect to the electrode segments of said third LC sandwich by approximately 45 degrees. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A liquid crystal (LC) beam broadening device comprising:
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four LC cells each having LC material contained within opposed front and back substrates to have a planar aligned ground state orientation, at least one of said substrates having an arrangement of parallel electrode segments for creating a spatial variation of LC orientation within the cells, one each of said four LC cells for each of two polarizations and for each of two orthogonal parallel electrode orientation; wherein the electrode segments of at least one of said LC cells are rotationally offset from being parallel or orthogonal with respect to the electrode segments of at least one other of said LC cell by about 2 to about 8 degrees. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A beam control device for shaping an output light beam, the beam control device being configured to receive an incident beam from a light source, the beam control device comprising:
at least one liquid crystal cell for modulating said incident beam as said incident beam propagates therethrough, each liquid crystal cell having;
a pair of cell substrates separated by a cell thickness, a liquid crystal material filling, at least one alignment layer for ordering said liquid crystal material homeotropically with a director in a ground state alignment direction, a liquid crystal material, a first patterned electrode structure on said first one of said substrates having first independent electrodes for providing a first in-plane electric field at said first one of said substrates and a first spatial modulation of the liquid crystal material in a first zone near said first substrate and between said first independent electrodes of said first patterned electrode structure, and a second patterned electrode structure arranged at a cross-orientation with respect to said first patterned electrode structure on a second one of said substrates and having second independent electrodes for providing a second in-plane electric field at said second one of said substrates and a second spatial modulation of the liquid crystal material in a second zone near said second substrate and between said second independent electrodes of said second patterned electrode structure, wherein when said first and said second patterned electrode structures are powered, a twist in liquid crystal orientation arises in a third zone between said first zone and said second zone over at least a portion of an aperture of said device to provide a polarization rotation in light passing through said device.- View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
Specification