SBIR-STTR Award

Increasing demands are being placed on liquid crystal based devices that can switch fast and allows analog change in amplitude and phase at the same time. Through materials development, we propose to increase the speed of the recently demonstrated structure based on ferroelectric liquid crystals which combined the advantages of continuous variability of the nematic liquid crystals and the fast switching of the ferroelectric liquid crystals. This new structure would allow variable attenuation as well as continuous phase modulations with improved stability of the smectic structure. Devices based on these structures would be useful in a variety of applications where analogue and amplitude phase modulation are desirable, such as spectral filters and phase arrays.

This proposal outlines the efforts to develop technology based on ferroelectric liquid crystals in a twisted smectic (FETS) structure. This structure combines the tunable advantages of conventional twisted nematic liquid crystals with those of the fast switching ferroelectric liquid crystals. FETS-based devices represent a significant technical advancement, and have the potential to form a whole new class of liquid crystal devices exhibiting unprecedented speed. The technology developed will be tested by constructing three prototype devices with targeted applications for military and commercial markets in preparation for the Phase III commercialization efforts. These devices will be designed with the goal of protecting sensors against laser radiation threats using either fixed, tunable, or broad-band wavelength filters. This technology will also result in commercially significant products for use in the optical communications and the display markets.

Keywords:
FERROELECTRIC FIREFRINGENT FILTER ALIGNMENT LAYERS ELECTRO-OPTICS SMECTIC LIQUID CRYSTALS OPTICAL