SBIR Phase II: A New Class of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals for High Performance Optical Phase Modulation

SBIR 第二阶段：用于高性能光相位调制的新型铁电液晶

• 批准号: 0422196
• 负责人: Yongqiang Zhang
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Displaytech Incorporated
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-09-15 至 2006-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0422196&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; New; Class

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a new class of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) materials and novel operating mode to produce fast, analog, electro-optic phase modulation. This innovation exploits two recent developments in liquid crystal science: a new liquid crystal phase made from novel bent-core "banana" molecules, and electrostatically controlled analog modulation of high polarization FLCs. The new modulators will offer the fixed-optic-axis phase modulation capability of a nematic liquid crystal in combination with the much faster speed and lower drive voltage of a ferroelectric. Present day FLCs modulate light through electrically driven optic axis rotation. Phase modulation range is limited to less than 180 degrees unless complex multi-element device designs are used. What's so novel about the new FLC is that it modulates light through changes in its index of refraction; the direction of the optic axis remains fixed. Furthermore that modulation can be analog, unlike conventional FLCs, which are binary. This enables simpler device structures and phase ranges greater than 360 degrees.The new FLC should be compatible with liquid-crystal-on-silicon technology (LCOS), allowing the ability to construct inexpensive wavelength-tunable devices and wavefront modulators for diverse application including telecommunications, holographic and conventional optical data storage, and microdisplays. This production on an electro-optic technology could be useful in an existing market (microdisplays), and could enable large new markets in the near future (active optics, optical data storage, telecommunications). Advantages over alternative technologies due to the nature of a lower cost manufacturing processes, and the ability to easily implement complex functionality because of the integration of this electro-optic technology with standard CMOS VLSI technology. Society could benefit through job creation, enhanced telecommunications, and improved data storage technologies.

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将开发一种新型的铁电液晶（FLC）材料和新的工作模式，以产生快速，模拟，电光相位调制。这项创新利用了液晶科学的两项最新进展：由新型双核“香蕉”分子制成的新液晶相，以及高偏振FLC的静电控制模拟调制。新的调制器将提供固定光轴的相位调制能力的液晶与更快的速度和更低的驱动电压的铁电相结合。现今的FLC通过电驱动的光轴旋转来调制光。相位调制范围被限制为小于180度，除非使用复杂的多元件器件设计。新型FLC的新颖之处在于它通过改变折射率来调制光线;光轴的方向保持不变。此外，该调制可以是模拟的，不像传统的FLC是二进制的。这使得更简单的器件结构和相位范围大于360度。新的FLC应该与硅上液晶技术（LCOS）兼容，从而能够构建廉价的波长可调器件和波前调制器，用于包括电信，全息和传统光学数据存储以及微显示器在内的各种应用。 这种电光技术的生产在现有市场（微型显示器）中可能是有用的，并且可以在不久的将来实现大的新市场（有源光学、光学数据存储、电信）。 由于低成本制造工艺的性质，以及由于这种电光技术与标准CMOS VLSI技术的集成而易于实现复杂功能的能力，因此优于替代技术。社会可以通过创造就业机会、增强电信和改进数据存储技术而受益。