Establishment of ultra-fine liquid crystal alignment control and wavefront control by UV light alignment and its application to focus-variable AR devices

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18707
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 21:Electrical and electronic engineering and related fields
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Ishinabe Takahiro 東北大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (30361132)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 液晶 / 配向制御 / 光制御 / ARデバイス / 可変焦点光学系

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we established a new optical control technology by controlling the two-dimensional aggregation structure of polymers formed by self-assembly in liquid crystals and focus tunable optics. We also established polymer structure control by microstructures formed by photolithography and improved the response of liquid crystals. We also introduced a twist to the alignment state of the liquid crystal and proposed a variable focus optical system combined with a calcite substrate. We confirmed that the image formation distance in space can be controlled from 110 cm to 210 cm with high image quality and at high speed, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed optical system.

Free Research Field

電子工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、液晶中に形成した高分子の凝集構造を微細にかつ高精度で制御する手法を確立し、その制御メカニズムを解明すると共に、液晶の屈折率制御による焦点可変の光学系を構築し、その高速制御を達成した。本研究成果は、屈折率の動的な制御とそれによる光制御において重要な知見であり、液晶光デバイスの応用工学についての学理構築に資するものである。高速に画像の結像位置を制御できる光学系の構築は、ARデバイスや、照明装置等、様々な分野への波及が期待される。