The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 25, 2019
Filed:
Jul. 07, 2017
Abl Ip Holding Llc, Conyers, GA (US);
Ravi Kumar Komanduri, Brambleton, VA (US);
An Mao, Jersey City, NJ (US);
Alexander Jacob Schultz, Sterling, VA (US);
ABL IP HOLDING LLC, Conyers, GA (US);
Abstract
In a liquid crystal type variable beam shaping optic, a part of a structure that forms a gap for the liquid crystals includes a surface relief micro-structure diffuser. Due to the micro-features of the diffuser, the gap is non-uniform. A voltage applied to an electrode associated with the diffuser and an electrode associated with an opposing substrate controls the orientation of uniaxial nematic liquid crystals in a material filling the non-uniform gap. For example, the index of refraction of the material may vary relative to an index of refraction of the diffuser, based on variations of the crystal orientation caused by variation of the applied voltage. The change in relative indices of refraction, in the examples, changes a focal length of the variable optic and thus the shape of a light beam optically processed through the liquid crystal optic.