SBIR Phase I: Polarization Insensitive Tunable Diffraction Grating

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将研究快速切换铁电液晶结构的使用，特别是在反向扭曲表面结构(ITSS)中，以制造偏振不敏感的衍射光栅结构。这将使用高倾角铁电液晶材料来完成。在这个项目中，将探索两种不同的方法来制作偏振不敏感的光束偏转器。在一种方法中，快速切换铁电液晶将与掺杂交联剂相结合，在不使用全息照相的情况下制造可切换的光栅。第二种方法将使用图案化的对准层使偏振不敏感的结构。最优的方法将被确定为进一步的开发和实施。在商业上，这些衍射结构有望形成光衰减器和光束控制装置的基础。虽然可以预期几种应用，例如用于电信行业的光学光衰减器，但最终的应用将一如既往地取决于设备的性能。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I Project will investigate the use of a fast switching ferroelectric liquid crystal structure, particularly in the inverse twisted smetic structure (ITSS) to make a polarization insensitive diffraction grating structure. This will be done using the high tilt ferroelectric liquid crystal material. In this program two different approaches will be explored to make a polarization insensitive beam deflector. In one approach, a fast switching ferroelectric liquid crystal in combination with doped cross-linking agents will be used to make a switchable grating without the use of holography. A second approach will make the polarization insensitive structures using patterned alignment layers. The optimal method will be identified for further development and implementation.Commercially these diffractive structures are expected to form the basis of optical attenuators as well as beam steering devices. Although several applications, such as optical light attenuators for the telecommunications industry can be expected, the ultimate application as always will depend on the performance of the device.