LC Materials for an Innovative EO Architecture: A New Approach for Non-Mechanical Beamsteering

Vescent Photonics, in collaboration with David Walba at the University of Colorado, proposes to continue their successful phase I development of novel LC materials that are suited to a new electro-optic architecture. This architecture provides unprecedented electro-optic phase delay (> 1 mm has been demonstrated) that enables a new class of previously unrealizable photonic devices. Examples include: electro-optic beamsteerers capable of arbitrarily large analog deflection (we demonstrated 80o with only two control electrodes), chip-scale FTIRs with 0.1 nm resolution, miniature and robust tunable lasers with 100 nm of tuning, and many more. In phase II goal we will map out the performance limits of this EO architecture through tests on a 1-D beamsteerer. Capabilities will be measured for: power handling, beam quality, wavelength limits (from UV to mid-IR), steering angle, and speed. An optimized 1-D beamsteerer, and a full datasheet on the device capabilities will be delivered. A secondary deliverable will be a feasibility study and/or demonstration of a 2-D steering system. Finally, we will continue in our efforts at generating commercial versions of these new LCs. Both symmetric nematics and de Vries phase SmA* LCs will be developed, and the optimized chemistries reported.