In this paper, the planar micro-nano-coils (PMNCs) with diverse planar spiral structures are designed for electrically driving and controlling liquid crystal microlenses (LCMs) based on wireless power transmission approaches. The PMNCs with different basic shapes are fabricated, including typical micro-triangle, micro-square, micro-pentagon, micro-hexagon, and micro-circle. According to the designed microstructures, using loop iterative approximation means based on Greenhouse algorithm, the inductance values of the microcoils can be calculated through combining self-inductance with mutual-inductance. In experiments, both the wet and dry etching technologies are adapted to obtain the desired PMNCs over aluminum-coated glass substrates. The etching technologies utilized by us are implemented on initial glass substrates spread by photoresist mask, which has been processed by common ultraviolet lithography. And the wet and dry etching technologies are different in the way of eroding aluminum film. Usually, the wet etching is a kind of the chemical reaction of alkali element in the developing liquid used, but the dry etching is a type of physical etching process such as the ion beam etching so as to fabricate microstructures with smaller size than that of wet etching. After the fabrication of the PMNCs, the electrical testing circuit for the inductance of the PMNCs is built to obtain their actual inductance values. By comparing inductances with theoretical prediction, the improved PMNCs are proposed for driving and controlling LCMs, which demonstrates enhanced light transmission efficiency of the PMNCs, and makes it more efficient to adjust LCMs developed by us.
Based on our previous works on liquid crystal microlenses driven and adjusted electrically, we present a new type of liquid crystal microlens arrays with dual-mode function (DLCMAs). Currently, the DLCMAs developed by us consist of a top electrode couple constructed by two layers of controlling electrode structure, and a bottom electrode. The top two electrode layers are respectively deposited over both sides of a glass substrate and insulated by a thin SiO2 coating, so as to act as the mode-control-part in the DLCMAs. Another planar electrode layer acting as the base electrode is deposited over the surface of a glass substrate. Two glass substrates with fabricated electrode structure are coupled into a microcavity filled by nematic liquid crystal material. The DLCMAs proposed in this paper present excellent divergence and convergence performances only loading relatively low driving voltage signal. The common optical properties of the micro-optics-structures are given experimentally.
In this paper, we design and fabricate a kind of liquid crystal microlens arrays (LCMAs) with patterned electrodes made of monolayer graphene, which is grown on copper sheet by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Graphene is the first two-dimensional atomic crystal. It uniquely combines extreme mechanical strength, high optically transmittance from visible light to infrared spectrum, and excellent electrical conductivity. These properties make it highly attractive for various applications in photonic devices that require conductive but transparent thin films. The graphene-based LCMAs have shown excellent optical performances in the tests. By adjusting the voltage signal loaded over the graphene-based LCMAs, the point spread functions (PSF) and focusing images of incident laser beams with different wavelengths, could be obtained. At the same time, we also get the focusing images of the common ITO-based LCMAs under the same experimental conditions to discuss the advantages and disadvantages between them. Further, the graphene-based LCMAs are also used in visible imaging. During the imaging tests, the graphene electrodes in the LCMAs work well.
In this paper, an arrayed liquid crystal (LC) microlens (ALCM) based on graphene electrode instead of common indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode material is designed and fabricated, and the corresponding testing results have been obtained and presented. The graphene film used as patterned electrode in the project is grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) over copper foils, which demonstrate the properties of low sheet resistance and high transmittance of more than 90% in current stage. The key fabrication of the arrayed LC microlens based on graphene electrode includes the graphene transfering, ultraviolet lithography, ICP etching, liquid crystalline polymer encapsulation, etc. In the test of the arrayed LC microlens, the point spread functions (PSF) of incident laser beams with different wavelengths, such as red laser of ~600nm wavelength, and green laser of ~532nm wavelength, have been obtained. In addition, the arrayed LC microlenses are also used in visible light imaging. During the imaging tests, each microlens in the arrayed LC microlens can perform imaging process, independently.
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