| abstract |
A tunable liquid crystal (LC) device includes an LC layer between a pair of reflectors that form an optical cavity. The reflectors include conductive layers 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. The phase retardation introduced by the LC layer can be greatly increased or amplified by placing the LC layer in the optical cavity. This enables a substantial reduction in the LC layer thickness, with faster switching times as well as reduced inter-pixel crosstalk caused by fringing electric fields, which in turn results in a very tight pitch of the LC pixels. can hear Tight pitch fast LC devices can be used as configurable holograms or spatial light modulators. |