The goal of the present work is to create a miniature 2D light scanning device without any moving parts using integrated electro-optic (EO) liquid crystal (LC) material. The design is based on changing the propagation direction of a light beam when it is incident to an electro-optic medium with a voltage-controlled index of refraction. To achieve 2D beam steering and scanning, the device is designed in two stages. For horizontal beam steering, a LC prism (thickness = 10 μm) created between two glasses is used to deflect beam by refraction due to change in refractive index of LC. For vertical beam steering, a virtual prism is created between two glasses by offsetting top and bottom electrodes. When an electric field is applied to the electrodes, LC directors create a virtual prism due to physical offset between top and bottom electrodes help to achieve beam deflection in vertical direction. In this work, a simulation study is conducted on the proposed design to achieve 2D deflection of laser beam (λ=632 nm). According to Snell’s law, theoretically, a maximum horizontal deflection of 10.52° is achieved at a prism angle, and incident angle of 66.1° and 21.99° respectively. Whereas through a simulation study, maximum horizontal deflection of 34° and maximum vertical deflection of 13° is achieved at given incident angle. This low-cost and lightweight optical scanner can fit inside a tube with a diameter of less than 5 mm and can be implemented for augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), or standalone microdisplay applications.
Light beam deflectors and scanners have great potential in displays and microscopy for industrial and medical applications. A liquid crystal (LC) material that responds to external stimuli is a promising candidate for such applications. The goal of the proposed work is to create a miniature light scanning device without any moving parts using integrated electro-optic(EO) LC material. The design is based on changing the propagation direction of a light beam when it is incident to an electro-optic medium with a voltage-controlled index of refraction. The current design consists of two horizontal LC cell cascaded prisms (active Prism I and II) for horizontal beam deflection and a vertical prism (passive) at the end of the horizontal stage for vertical beam deflection. In the present work, a mathematical model and simulation study is conducted on the proposed design to achieve 2D deflection of the beam (λ=632 nm). The optimized prism or apex angle of active prisms I and II are 63 and 56.7 respectively, whereas the prism angle of the passive prism is 37.5. With an incident beam angle (θ1) of 9 at the entry of prism I, maximum horizontal deflection of >36 and maximum vertical deflection of >13 is achieved through theoretical and simulation study.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.