Efficient and monolithic polarization conversion system based on a polarization grating.
We introduce a new polarization conversion system (PCS) based on a liquid-crystal polarization grating (PG) and louvered wave plate. A simple arrangement of these elements laminated between two microlens arrays results in a compact and monolithic element, with the ability to nearly completely convert unpolarized input into linearly polarized output across most of the visible bandwidth. In our first prototypes, this PG-PCS approach manifests nearly 90% conversion efficiency of unpolarized to polarized for ±11° input light divergence, leading to an energy efficient picoprojector that presents high efficacy (12 lm/W) with good color uniformity.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA.
Jihwan
J
Kim
Ravi K
RK
Komanduri
Kristopher F
KF
Lawler
D Jason
DJ
Kekas
Michael J
MJ
Escuti