A High Throughput Liquid Crystal Light Shutter.pdfVIP

Invited Paper A High Throughput Liquid Crystal Light Shutter for Unpolarized Light using Polymer Polarization Gratings Ravi K. Komanduri, Kris F. Lawler, and Michael J. Escuti North Carolina State Univ, Dept Electrical Computer Engineering, Raleigh, NC USA ABSTRACT We report on a broadband, di?ractive, light shutter with the ability to modulate unpolarized light. This polarizer- free approach employs a conventional liquid crystal LC switch, combined with broadband Polarization Gratings PGs formed with polymer LC materials. The thin-?lm PGs act as di?ractive polarizing beam-splitters, while the LC switch operates on both orthogonal polarization states simultaneously. As an initial experimental proof- of-concept for unpolarized light with ±7? aperture, we utilize a commercial twisted-nematic LC switch and our own polymer PGs to achieve a peak transmittance of 80% and peak contrast ratio of 230:1. We characterize the optoelectronic performance, discuss the limitations, and evaluate its use in potential nonmechanical shutter applications imaging and non-imaging . Keywords: polarization grating, di?raction, modulator, variable optical attenuator, shutter, imaging, liquid crystal 1. INTRODUCTION Liquid Crystal LC materials have enabled several modern day appliances including digital wrist watches, pocket calculators, cell phones, ?at panel displays, etc. The concept of aligning LCs between absorbing thin ?lm polarizers1, 2 is the most popular way to utilize the electro-optical properties of these materials. Although this method o?ers several advantageous features, it has one major disadvantage that we address here: high optical losses ≥ 50% in the transmissive-state when the light source is unpolarized. In some applications,3, 4 conversion of unpolarized light to partially polarized light polarization is possible, but in other applications unusable or still ine?cient. Several alternatives o?er inhe