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:
May. 17, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 23, 1992
Applicant:
Inventor:
Michael C Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, GB;
Assignee:
GEC-Marconi Limited, , GB;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G02F / ; G02F / ; G02F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
359 77 ; 359 87 ; 359 89 ; 359 93 ;
Abstract
An electrically-controllable wave plate comprises a layer of liquid crystal material having positive dielectric anisotropy, the layer being contained between two transparent plates. An alignment layer is provided on each plate for causing homeotropic alignment of the LC molecules adjacent the plate. Electrodes are so positioned that they apply an electric field substantially along the plane of the LC layer so that the molecules acquire variable tilt through the thickness of the layer, resulting in birefringence of the layer. The wave plate may be used in a polarisation controller.