High Birefringence Liquid Crystals for Laser Hardening and IR Countermeasure

Abstract

A fast-switching and scattering-free phase modulator using polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) is demonstrated at **=l.55 um for laser beam steering application. The strong polymer network anchoring greatly reduces the visco-elastic coefficient of the liquid crystal. As a result, the PNLC response time is improved by -300X, although the threshold voltage is increased by -25X. Computer simulation results agree with experiments well.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 24, 2004
Accession Number
ADA427767

Entities

People

  • Shin-Tson Wu

Organizations

  • University of Central Florida

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Beam Steering
  • Birefringence
  • Computer Simulations
  • Countermeasures
  • Crystals
  • Hardening
  • Laser Beams
  • Laser Hardening
  • Lasers
  • Liquid Crystals
  • Modulators
  • Optical Phenomena
  • Optics
  • Phase Modulators
  • Physical Properties
  • Scattering
  • Simulations

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Inertial Navigation Systems.
  • Nanofabrication and Microfabrication.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy