Single layer, tunable, liquid crystal based Pancharatnam phase devices

Pancharatnam Phase Devices (PPDs) are an exciting new area for optical component development. Single layer active devices that provide optical beam steering over a range of several degrees will be discussed. The devices considered here use a comb electrode structure to provide an in-plane electric field to control the optical axis orientation of the liquid crystal director to have the desired spiral pattern of a PPD device. Two basic concepts will be discussed: one that used the in-plane fields to “pin” the only the ends of the spiral pattern; and another that uses sub elements to defines the desired director orientation at several locations in the spiral. The concepts, design details, and modeling results are shown.