2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research Development for Liquid-Crystal Optical-Wavefront-Control-Devices by using Molecular Orientation Effects
| Project/Area Number |
17560301
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Electron device/Electronic equipment
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| Research Institution | AKITA UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
SATO Susumu AKITA UNIVERSITY, Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Professor, 工学資源学部, 教授 (50005401)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YAMAGUCHI Rumiko AKITA UNIVERSITY, Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Associate Professor, 工学資源学部, 助教授 (30170799)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2006
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| Keywords | Liquid crystal optical devices / liquid crystal molecular orientation / optical phase difference / vertical orientation / parallel orientation / refractive index distribution / optical wave-front control |
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| Research Abstract |
1. We fabricate the liquid crystal (LC) cells by using a nematic LC and the substrates on which photo-lithographically partly patterned parallel alignment layers on the polyimide (PI) perpendicular alignment layer, where LC molecules are partly aligned parallel and perpendicular to the substrate, respectively.
2. The optical retardation properties at the boundary region of parallel and perpendicular alignment layers are measured, and the liquid crystal orientation states at the boundary region of parallel and perpendicular orientations can be explained. The LC cells with several sized alignment regions are fabricated by using the alignment-treated substrates, and LC lens properties are measured and evaluated. The relations between the thickness of LC layers and the ratio of the patterned area are studied and effective optical retardations are analyzed, and then the quantitative results are obtained.
3. The LC director distribution is simulated by the finite different method and the configurations of the LC director orientations at the boundaries are estimated. Then the design rules to attain the favorable refractive index distribution for optical devices are established.
4. The LC cells are prepared using the glass substrates with many micro-patterned areas of small diameter (〜1 μm), and their optical phase can be controlled by changing the effective area ratio of micro-pattern density.
5. According to these results, we fabricate the LC cells where the distributions of the refractive indices change stepwise or graded. Then, we demonstrate new LC optical devices with deflection properties, and analyze their optical properties. The properties of these devices can also be varied by applying an ac voltage to the LC cell.
6. These results are examined and the research work is summarized.
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Research Products
(7 results)
