title: Ray equation for a spatially variable uniaxial crystal and its use in the optical design of liquid-crystal lenses.
abstract: To be able to design optical systems (e.g., variable focus or zoom lenses) made from liquid-crystal devices, it is necessary to be able to ray trace in a birefringent medium where the angle of the optical axis is a function of position in the device. To our knowledge, the theory required to achieve this has not previously been published, and we derive a suitable algorithm and give some examples of its use.
authors.affiliation: Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Weston ACT, Australia. charles.jenkins@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bingham
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Gordon D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Love