Basic research on the optical Kerr effect seen in liquid crystals and its potential for use in liquid crystal over silicon technology.

硅上液晶（LCOS）技术在从自适应光学到微型投影仪的多个市场中迅速发展。透明液晶显示器广泛应用于电视屏幕、平板电脑和智能手机中。然而，透明显示器不能任意地小型化。相反，LCOS技术允许高分辨率微显示器。为了在大屏幕上显示，LCOS微显示器传统上用于投影设备，例如背投电视，其中LCOS芯片基于强度调制。除了强度调制之外，液晶还可以非常有效地用于相位调制。LCOS微显示器可用于实现具有绚丽色彩的2D和3D视频的全息投影。目前，基于相位调制平面取向液晶的LCOS器件只能实现相当慢的帧速率，而液晶可以显示更快的电光效应。这些效应之一是诱导双折射（克尔效应）。尽管在透明液晶器件中已经并且目前正在彻底研究克尔效应，但是这些器件仍然受到高驱动电压的影响。 拟议的研究项目表明，LCOS技术可以受益于液晶的使用，液晶显示克尔效应。例如，制造LC0S器件的工艺被大大简化，因为可以免除替代方法所需的锚定层。此外，这种液晶的使用可以导致更高的帧速率。硅技术非常适合研究智能电极设计是否可以降低驱动电压。

Liquid crystal over silicon (LCOS) technology is quickly evolving in several markets ranging from adaptive optics to miniature projectors. Transparent liquid crystal displays are widely used in television screens, tablet PCs, and smart phones. However, transparent displays cannot be miniaturized arbitrarily. In contrast, LCOS technology allows for high resolution microdisplays. In order to display on large screens, LCOS micro¬displays are traditionally used in projecting devices, such as rear projection televisions where the LCOS-chip is based on intensity modulation. Additionally to intensity modulation, liquid crystals can also be used for phase modulation very efficiently. LCOS microdisplays can be used to achieve holographic projection of 2D and 3D videos with brilliant colors. Currently, LCOS devices based on phase modulating planar aligned nematic LCs are only capable of achieving rather slow frame rates.Liquid crystals can show faster electro optic effects. One of these effects is induced birefringence (Kerr effect). Although, the Kerr effect has been and currently is thoroughly investigated in transparent liquid crystal devices, these devices still suffer from high driving voltages. The proposed research project shows that LCOS-technology can benefit from the use of liquid crystals, which show the Kerr effect. For example, the process of fabricating LCOS devices is considerably simplified, because anchoring layers, which are required by alternative approaches, can be waived. Moreover, the use of such liquid crystals can lead to higher frame rates. Silicon technology is ideally suited in order to investigate, if smart electrode design can lead to lower driving voltages.