Hughes Aircraft Company

Jvc Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

Klaus Robinson

Hugh L Garvin

Leroy J Miller

Willis H Smith, Jr

Thomas W Daley

Charles L Schaub

A substrate (20) is treated prior to use to induce a near-perpendicular orientation of a liquid crystal director (26) relative to the substrate. A layer of silica (98) is deposited upon the substrate (20) by in-line magnetron sputtering as the substrate ( 20) is moved past the sputtering target (78), and the silica-coated substrate (20) is thereafter treated with a long-chain alcohol. The alcohol-treated substrate (20) is covered with a layer of liquid crystal (22), the director (26) of the liquid crystal (22) assuming a field-off state tilted about 1-3 degrees from the perpendicular toward an azimuthal direction (30) parallel to the direction of movement of the substrate (20) during deposition.

Inducing tilted perpendicular alignment in liquid crystals

A system and method for fabricating optical ramp filters utilizes an ion beam sputter etching system and a shaped aperture mask to produce optical ramp filters with precise control over the transmission and reflectance properties of the filter. The ion beam is passed through a shaped aperture whose width varies as a function of its length. The resultant shaped ion beam is used to etch a uniform reflective layer that was previously deposited on a transparent substrate. The substrate and the reflective layer are translated relative to the shaped aperture so that the shaped ion beam 'travels' across the reflective layer. Different parts of the reflective layer are exposed to the ion beam for different amounts of time as a result of the varying width of the shaped ion beam. The result is a reflective layer with a nonuniform depth profile (a ramp filter). The method allows control of the layer thickness with a precision of less than 0.5 nm. This precision exceeds that achieved with prior fabrication methods that control the thickness of the layer during the deposition (or growth) stage.

System and method for fabrication of precision optical ramp filters

A process is provided for modifying a surface of a large area, non-planar substrate to form micro structures therein that alter its optical properties. The process includes forming the micro structures by reactive ion beam etching through a chosen pattern that has been prepared on the surface.

Reactive ion etching of gratings and cross gratings structures

A substrate (20) is treated prior to use to induce a near-perpendicular orientation of a liquid crystal director (26) relative to the substrate. A layer of silica (38) is deposited upon the substrate (20) by in-line magnetron sputtering as the substrate (20) is moved past the sputtering target (78), and the silica-coated substrate (20) is thereafter treated with a long-chain alcohol. The alcohol-treated substrate (20) is covered with a layer of liquid crystal (22), the director (26) of the liquid crystal (22) assuming a field-off state tilted about 1-3 degrees from the perpendicular toward an azimuthal direction (30) parallel to the direction of movement of the substrate (20) during deposition.

Growing community of inventors

Woodland Hills, CA, United States of America

Klaus Robinson