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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期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发展：一种由新型弯核“香蕉”分子制成的新型液晶相，以及静电控制的高极化FLCs模拟调制。新的调制器将提供向列液晶的固定光轴相位调制能力，并结合铁电的更快的速度和更低的驱动电压。目前的FLCs通过电驱动的光轴旋转来调制光。除非使用复杂的多元件器件设计，否则相位调制范围限制在180度以内。新型FLC的新颖之处在于，它通过改变折射率来调节光线；光轴的方向保持固定。此外，调制可以是模拟的，不像传统的flc是二进制的。这使得器件结构更简单，相位范围大于360度。新的FLC应该与硅基液晶技术（LCOS）兼容，允许构建廉价的波长可调器件和波前调制器，用于各种应用，包括电信，全息和传统光学数据存储以及微显示。这种电光技术的生产可以在现有市场（微显示器）中发挥作用，并且可以在不久的将来实现大型新市场（主动光学，光学数据存储，电信）。由于制造工艺成本较低，并且由于将这种电光技术与标准CMOS VLSI技术集成，因此能够轻松实现复杂的功能，因此优于替代技术。社会可以通过创造就业机会、加强电信和改进数据存储技术而受益。

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.