SBIR PhaseI: Photo-reconfigurable Alignment Surfaces for Liquid Crystals

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在研究光可重新配置表面的开发，这些表面将能够以以前不可能的方式控制铁电液晶（FLC）的取向和开关特性。中心问题是产生FLC（对准）的良好光学均匀性所需的FLC-表面相互作用力不同于良好模拟电光性能所需的力。如果成功的话，我们对这个问题的解决方案有可能使抢手的快速模拟电光调制模式（100 μ s）寻求光束转向，自适应和有源光学，可调谐光学滤波器，光学信息处理，显示器和电信。第一阶段的目标是开发所提出的表面材料的原型，并通过构建液晶测试单元对其进行评估。关键的测试将是确定表面是否可以首先配置为在电池制造期间促进良好的FLC对准，然后被光重新配置为提供用于模拟电光调制的最佳表面力的状态。一个领先的例子是激光束转向和光学波前校正，其应用于自由空间光通信、电信的MxN全光开关以及航空激光雷达的光束转向和光束整形。它也将是有用的兆位写入头为新兴的全息数据存储工业，在可调谐滤波器中使用的光通信，在空间光调制器的光学信息处理，和在微型显示器的消费电子产品。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)Phase I project aims to investigate the development of photo-reconfigureable surfaces that will enable control of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) alignment and switching properties in ways not previously possible. The central problem is that the FLC-surface interaction forces needed to produce good optical uniformity of the FLC (alignment) are different from the forces needed for good analog electro-optic performance. If successful, our solution to this problem has the potential to enable sought-after fast analog electro-optic modulation modes ( 100 us) sought for beam steering, adaptive and active optics, tunable optical filters, optical information processing, displays, and telecommunications. The Phase I objective is to develop prototypes of the proposed surface materials and to evaluate them by building liquid crystal test cells. The crucial test will be to determine whether or not the surfaces can be configured first to promote good FLC alignment during cell fabrication, and then be photo-reconfigured into a state providing optimal surface forces for analog electro-optic modulation.The analog electro-optic modulation that would be enabled by the proposed innovation is the foundation for a class of advanced optical devices. A leading example is laser beam steering and optical wave front correction that find application in free-space optical communications, in MxN all-optical switches for telecommunications, and in beam steering and beam shaping for laser radar in aviation. It would also be useful in megabit write heads for the emerging holographic data storage industry, in tunable filters used in optical telecommunications, in spatial light modulators for optical information processing, and in microdisplays for consumer electronics.