| abstract |
Tunable liquid crystal (LC) devices include an LC layer between a pair of reflectors that form an optical cavity. The reflector includes a conductive layer for applying an electrical signal to the LC layer. One of the conductive layers may include an array of conductive pixels for spatially selective control of the effective refractive index of the LC layer. By placing the LC layer into the optical cavity, the phase retardation introduced by the LC layer can be greatly increased or amplified. This enables a significant reduction in the thickness of the LC layer, which in turn enables very tight spacing of LC pixels, while reducing inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, and enabling faster switching times. Tightly spaced fast LC devices can be used as configurable holograms or spatial light modulators. |