FDTD analysis of 100% efficient polarization-independent liquid crystal polarization grating

Chulwoo Oh; Ravi Komanduri; Michael J. Escuti

doi:10.1117/12.681357

21 September 2006 FDTD analysis of 100% efficient polarization-independent liquid crystal polarization grating

Chulwoo Oh, Ravi Komanduri, Michael J. Escuti

Proceedings Volume 6332, Liquid Crystals X; 633212 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.681357
Event: SPIE Optics + Photonics, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We report a numerical analysis of the liquid crystal polarization grating (LCPG) as an electro-optically controlled, polarization independent light modulator. The 2D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling for periodic anisotropic structures has been developed as a numerical tool to study optical properties of anisotropic gratings. Both normal and oblique incidence cases are successfully implemented for wide-band analysis. Nematic director profiles of the LCPG are obtained from elastic free-energy calculations using a commercial software tool, called LC3D. A study of the essential diffraction characteristics of the LCPG is presented, which manifests pixel-level light modulation with a nearly 100% efficiency on unpolarized light. The effect of an off-axis input and the grating regime on the LCPG diffraction is investigated. Finally, we present a study of the electro-optical response of the LCPG when an electric field applied for both static and dynamic cases. The FDTD results show that a highly efficient, polarization-independent light modulation with capability of an electrical switching/tuning is possible by the LCPG.

Citation Download Citation

Chulwoo Oh, Ravi Komanduri, and Michael J. Escuti "FDTD analysis of 100% efficient polarization-independent liquid crystal polarization grating", Proc. SPIE 6332, Liquid Crystals X, 633212 (21 September 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.681357

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