Voltage programmable liquid optical devices

In this study I have looked at two types of voltage programmable liquid optical device. The first is a rotatable liquid crystal waveplate and the second is an amplitude programmable liquid phase grating. The rotatable waveplate was created by confining a droplet of E7 nematic liquid crystal between two glass substrates in a photolithographically produced square well of 60x60x15µm dimensions. The droplet forms a circular disc shape with two nematic defects at opposite edges of the disc. The optical texture has been examined and the most likely n-director orientation is shown to be Bipolar. Electrodes etched into the sandwiching substrate allow an in-plane electric field to be applied and because of the E7's positive dielectric anisotropy the n-director of the droplet aligns itself with the field. The speed at which this rotation occurs is shown to follow the relationship Ø = 0.0472гV 2 and rotation speeds of 450° /s have been achieved.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Nottingham Trent University

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Wells, GG

Language dc:language

en