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:
Mar. 31, 2026
Filed:
Aug. 16, 2024
Kent State University, Kent, OH (US);
Government of the United States As Represented BY the Secretary of the Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (US);
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, Kent, OH (US);
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES AS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE, Wright-Patterson, OH (US);
Abstract
A tunable optical beam steering device includes: a first means for providing surface localized in-plane electric fields on a first substrate and also on a second substrate that together define a sandwich structure containing a liquid crystal material; a second means for providing electric fields between the two substrates that can be at an angle to the surface normal, or along the surface normal; and an alignment layer on a surface of each substrate that causes the liquid crystal director to align with a small angle relative to the surface normal and whose projection onto the plane of the substrates is different on the two substrates.