Electrically tunable liquid-crystal wave plate using quadripolar electrode configuration and transparent conductive polymer layers.
We present the realization of an electrically tunable wave plate, which uses a nematic liquid-crystal (LC) phase retarder that allows fast and continuous control of the polarization state. This device is built using a quadripolar electrode design and transparent conductive polymer layers in order to obtain a uniform electric field distribution in the interelectrode area. With this realization, we obtain a high degree of control of the orientation of the electric field and, consequently, of the LC director. Indeed, this modulator outperforms classical bipolar LC cells in both optical path variation (>4 microm) and LC rotation speed (0.4 degrees/micros).
Fraval
Nicolas
N
Micro Module, 38 rue Jim Sévellec, Brest 29200, France. nfraval@micromodule.fr
Joffre
Pascal
P
Formont
Stéphane
S
Chazelas
Jean
J