Broad Spectrum Optical Property Characterization

Liquid Crystal Arrayed Microcavities (LCAM) are a new hyperspectral technology initiated by collaboration among Spectral Molecular Imaging, Advanced Microcavity Sensors and Montana State University Spectrum Laboratory.At the core of this revolutionary technology lie picoliter volume optical cavities that exploit liquid crystal birefringence for tuning an effective cavity length.During a Phase I one effort we fabricated LCAM units which performed particularly well as sub-nm spectral resolution filters in a low cost, compact and robust package.By utilizing well established microfabrication, thin film deposition, and wafer techniques we developed a process for rapidly fabricating LCAM prototypes.In Phase II, we propose integrating a LCAM cell into a commercially available confocal microscope.Current spectral confocal microscopes have minimum price tags that start around $300,000.The LCAM shows great promise at reducing the price point by an order of magnitude and allowing hyperspectral microscopy to be available to a much broader market. The LCAM technology currently surpasses the spectral resolution of current systems by two orders of magnitude.Development of the LCAM will lead to the integration of hyperspectral capabilities into a wide variety of imaging platforms.