Kent State University

E-vision Smart Optics, Inc.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Douglas Bryant

Dwight P Duston

Liwei Li

Phil Bos

Anthony Y Van Heugten

Philip J Bos

Anthony Van Heugten

Lei Shi

Bentley Wall

Carl O Bozler

Robert K Reich

Harry R Clark

Shaun R Berry

Valerie A Finnemeyer

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, apparatus, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a process, method, and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise and/or relate to, generating a gradient in an index of refraction of a material.

Double-layer electrode for electro-optic liquid crystal lens

Liquid crystal photonic devices and microcavities filled with liquid crystal materials are becoming increasingly popular. These devices often present a challenge when it comes to creating a robust alignment layer in pre-assembled cells. Previous research on photo-definable alignment layers has shown that they have limited stability, particularly against subsequent light exposure. A method of infusing a dye into a microcavity to produce an effective photo-definable alignment layer is described, along with a method of utilizing a pre-polymer infused into the microcavity mixed with the liquid crystal to provide photostability. In this method, the polymer layer, formed under optical irradiation of liquid crystal cells, is effectively localized to a thin region near the substrate surface and thus provides a significant improvement in the photostability of the liquid crystal alignment. This versatile alignment layer method, which can be used in microcavities to displays, offers significant promise for new photonics applications.

Methods and apparatus for liquid crystal photoalignment

Electro-optic lenses, including liquid crystals, wherein the power of the lenses can be modified by application of an electric field. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal-based lenses include ring electrodes having a resistive bridge located between adjacent electrodes, and in a preferred embodiment, input connections for several electrode rings are spaced on the lens. In a further embodiment, liquid crystal-based lenses are provided that can increase optical power through the use of phase resets, wherein in one embodiment, a lens includes ring electrodes on surfaces of the substrates on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell such that a fixed phase term can be added to each set of electrodes that allows for phase change across each group of electrodes to be the same and also be matched with respect to a previous group.

Tunable electro-optic liquid crystal lenses having resistive bridges and methods for forming the lenses

Tunable electrode-optic liquid crystal lenses having resistive bridges and methods for forming the lenses

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Aurora, OH, United States of America

Douglas Bryant