Abstract: This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for beam steering of a circuit-board based phase array of antennas. An RF signal can be distributed via coplanar waveguide conductors to a plurality of microstrip line conductors arranged in a dual-frequency liquid crystal medium. A low frequency control signal can be injected into each of the microstrip line conductors, preferably while each line is still in a coplanar waveguide form. This low frequency control signal modified a local permittivity of the dual-frequency liquid crystal in the vicinity of a corresponding one of the microstrip lines, thereby imparting a controlled phase delay to the RF signal on each microstrip line. This in turn allows a phase-controlled RF signal to be received at each antenna in the array.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for producing liquid crystal devices microwave that use metal alignment layers. The liquid crystal microwave devices include a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between metal layers, which are further sandwiched between substrate layers. At least one of the metal layers is rubbed to form micro-grooves that tend to align the liquid crystal molecules adjacent to those layers without using additional rubbed polymeric layers for the alignment. The thickness of the metal layers can be selected to yield a desired electromagnetic effect, such as constraint of propagation of microwave radiation.

Abstract: A new light modulating material using interconnected unidirectionally oriented microdomains of a liquid crystal, dispersed in a stressed polymer structure, is provided. The light modulating material is prepared by dissolving the liquid crystal in an uncured monomer and then curing the monomer so that the polymer forms a well-developed interpenetrating structure of polymer chains or sheets that is uniformly dispersed through the film. When the film is subjected to stress deformation the liquid crystal undergoes a change in its unidirectional orientation. The concentration of the polymer is high enough to hold the shear stress, but is as low as possible to provide the highest switch of the phase retardation when an electric field is applied. The new materials are optically transparent and provide phase modulation of the incident light opposed to the low driving voltage, linear electro-optical response, and absence of hysteresis.

Abstract: The invention provides a liquid crystal (LC) composite, a LC cell, a LC device, and a method thereof. The LC composite comprises (i) a liquid crystal material, and (ii) a copolymer polymerized from LC monomers and non-LC-monomers; and the LC composite is mechanically stressed/sheared. The invention exhibits numerous merits such as high transmittance in visible and IR range, hysteresis free, and a simple fabrication process; and may be utilized in LC device applications such as adaptive optics e.g. beam steering devices and fast tip-tilt wavefront correctors; and general optical applications such as eye wears, compact cameras and compact telescopes.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device comprises ferroelectric particles suspended in a liquid crystal material. A method for fabricating a light-modulating device is also disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, wherein electrodes are disposed on the facing surfaces of the substrates, and permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material into said cell gap. A method of generating an image comprises providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, providing transparent electrodes on each of said substrates adjacent to the cell gap, permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material within the cell gap, and applying an electric field across the electrodes.

Abstract: A new light modulating material using interconnected unidirectionally oriented microdomains of a liquid crystal, dispersed in a stressed polymer structure, is provided. The light modulating material is prepared by dissolving the liquid crystal in an uncured monomer and then curing the monomer so that the polymer forms a well-developed interpenetrating structure of polymer chains or sheets that is uniformly dispersed through the film. When the film is subjected to stress deformation the liquid crystal undergoes a change in its unidirectional orientation. The concentration of the polymer is high enough to hold the shear stress, but is as low as possible to provide the highest switch of the phase retardation when an electric field is applied. The new materials are optically transparent and provide phase modulation of the incident light opposed to the low driving voltage, linear electro-optical response, and absence of hysteresis.

Abstract: This disclosure outlines a new method of modifying the properties of existing liquid crystals by doping them with ferroelectric micro- and nanoparticles. We show that this approach, in contrast to the traditional time consuming and expensive chemical synthetic methods, enriches and enhances the electro-optical performance of many liquid crystal materials. We demonstrate that by changing the concentration and type of ferroelectric particles the physical properties of the nematic, smectic, and cholesteric liquid crystal materials can be changed, including the dielectric constants, the birefringence, the phase transition temperatures, and even the order parameter. We also demonstrate the performance of these new materials in various devices, including displays, light modulators, and beam steering devices.

Abstract: A new light modulating material using interconnected unidirectionally oriented microdomains of a liquid crystal, dispersed in a stressed polymer structure, is provided. The light modulating material is prepared by dissolving the liquid crystal in an uncured monomer and then curing the monomer so that the polymer forms a well-developed interpenetrating structure of polymer chains or sheets that is uniformly dispersed through the film. When the film is subjected to stress deformation the liquid crystal undergoes a change in its unidirectional orientation. The concentration of the polymer is high enough to hold the shear stress, but is as low as possible to provide the highest switch of the phase retardation when an electric field is applied. The new materials are optically transparent and provide phase modulation of the incident light opposed to the low driving voltage, linear electro-optical response, and absence of hysteresis.

Abstract: A liquid crystal device comprises ferroelectric particles suspended in a liquid crystal material. A method for fabricating a light-modulating device is also disclosed. The method comprises the steps of providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, wherein electrodes are disposed on the facing surfaces of the substrates, and permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material into said cell gap. A method of generating an image comprises providing a pair of substrates with a cell gap therebetween, providing transparent electrodes on each of said substrates adjacent to the cell gap, permanently disposing a suspension of ferroelectric particles in a liquid crystal material within the cell gap, and applying an electric field across the electrodes.