Merck Patent Gesellschaft MIT Beschrankter Haftung

Michael Krumrey

Gerd Heppke

Feodor Oestreicher

Heinz-Siegfried Kitzerow

An optical system contains a liquid crystal cell (1), to the liquid crystal layer (11) of which an E-field can be applied transversely to the plane of the layer. A light source (3) sends to the liquid crystal cell (1) a beam of rays parallel to the field direction. The liquid crystal is in the form of a chiral, optically isotropic phase ('blue phase'). This phase has a field-dependent optical density for the incident light and is matched to the light wavelength such that no selective reflection takes place. Such a cell is also optically isotropic in the presence of an E-field, switches rapidly and requires no interface orientation. Its preferred fields of use are: intensity modulation of light of a given wavelength, or as a phase grid in a schlieren-optical system, an etalon in a laser, or a light switch.

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Berlin, Germany

Michael Krumrey