Liquid crystal waveguide having refractive shapes for dynamically controlling light
First Claim
1. A waveguide, comprising:
- a substantially planar core for guiding a light beam through the waveguide, wherein said planar core has a thickness of less than one half a wavelength of the light beam, wherein the core has an index of refraction sized such that a TE index is not equal to a TM index for an operable voltage range of 0 to 100 V to avoid TE and TM crossings;
at least one cladding having a liquid crystal material disposed therein; and
means for controllably refracting the light beam in a direction parallel to said planar core as the light beam travels through the waveguide.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Liquid crystal waveguides for dynamically controlling the refraction of light. Generally, liquid crystal materials may be disposed within a waveguide in a cladding proximate or adjacent to a core layer of the waveguide. In one example, portions of the liquid crystal material can be induced to form refractive or lens shapes in the cladding that interact with a portion (e.g. evanescent) of light in the waveguide so as to permit electronic control of the refraction/bending, focusing, or defocusing of light as it travels through the waveguide. In one example, a waveguide may be formed using one or more patterned or shaped electrodes that induce formation of such refractive or lens shapes of liquid crystal material, or alternatively, an alignment layer may have one or more regions that define such refractive or lens shapes to induce formation of refractive or lens shapes of the liquid crystal material. In another example, such refractive or lens shapes of liquid crystal material may be formed by patterning or shaping a cladding to define a region or cavity to contain liquid crystal material in which the liquid crystal materials may interact with the evanescent light.
87 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A waveguide, comprising:
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a substantially planar core for guiding a light beam through the waveguide, wherein said planar core has a thickness of less than one half a wavelength of the light beam, wherein the core has an index of refraction sized such that a TE index is not equal to a TM index for an operable voltage range of 0 to 100 V to avoid TE and TM crossings; at least one cladding having a liquid crystal material disposed therein; and means for controllably refracting the light beam in a direction parallel to said planar core as the light beam travels through the waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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Specification