Liquid crystal waveguide having refractive shapes for dynamically controlling light
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically controlling refraction of light through a waveguide having a core and at least one cladding, the cladding defining a substantially planar surface, the method comprising:
- sizing the core to have a thickness of less than one half a wavelength of the light through the waveguide, wherein the core has an index of refraction sized such that a TE index is not equal to a TM index to avoid TE and TM crossings;
providing a liquid crystal material within said at least one cladding;
providing for forming at least one refractive shape from said liquid crystal material in said at least one cladding; and
providing for passing an evanescent portion of said light through said at least one refractive shape, thereby refracting the light within the waveguide in a direction parallel to said planar surface.
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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.
93 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for dynamically controlling refraction of light through a waveguide having a core and at least one cladding, the cladding defining a substantially planar surface, the method comprising:
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sizing the core to have a thickness of less than one half a wavelength of the light through the waveguide, wherein the core has an index of refraction sized such that a TE index is not equal to a TM index to avoid TE and TM crossings; providing a liquid crystal material within said at least one cladding; providing for forming at least one refractive shape from said liquid crystal material in said at least one cladding; and providing for passing an evanescent portion of said light through said at least one refractive shape, thereby refracting the light within the waveguide in a direction parallel to said planar surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for dynamically controlling refraction of light through a waveguide having a core and at least one cladding, comprising:
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providing the core with a thickness of less than one half a wavelength of the light through the waveguide, and an index of refraction sized such that a TE index is not equal to a TM index to avoid TE and TM crossings; providing a liquid crystal material disposed within said at least one cladding; providing at least one electrode having at least one portion that is substantially triangularly-shaped; and providing for applying a voltage to said electrode to refract the light within the waveguide as the light travels through the waveguide. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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Specification