Anisotropic phase-separation of liquid crystal and polymer composite is highly applicable for obtaining the durable
electro-optic devices. In this presentation, the theoretical model for phase separation phenomena based on the onedimensional
kinetic approach is introduced. For the applications of phase-separated LCs, we propose the fabrication of
mechanically stable flexible display and electrically controllable microlens array using two- or three-dimensional
anisotropic phase separation. Since LC molecules are isolated by polymer structure due to the anisotropic phase
separations, resultant devices show very good mechanical stability against external pressure and stable electro-optic
characteristics.
An active microlens device is demonstrated by using a stacked layer structure of UV curable polymer, liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) and a liquid crystal (LC). The incident linearly polarized light is focused after passing through the combined refractive type microlens array system of UV curable polymer and LCP. Because used LCP shows highly birefringent macroscopic property from the well-ordered molecular structure, the additional polarization state control layer was inserted to modulate the dynamic focusing characteristics of the device. From the additional twisted LC layer's electro-optic response, we obtained good focal switching characteristics of microlens array with a small operation voltage application. This enhanced dynamic focusing characteristic of device was originated from the separate operation of polymer lens structure's beam focusing and twisted LC layer's polarization control ability. The measured focal length was well matched to the calculated one. This proposed LC microlens array is expected to play a critical role in the various real photonic components such as highly reliable optical switch, beam modulator and key device for 3-D imaging system.
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