Flexible Liquid Crystal Eye Protection System

To address the Air Force need to protect aircrews against thermo-flash blindness (TFB) from a nuclear blast, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a Flexible LIquid crystal eye Protection (FLIP) device based on a liquid crystal shutter panel with photodetectors, connected to signal processing and triggering electronics. The liquid crystal panel attenuates light to a hundredth or even a thousandth of its original intensity, with >30% initial transmission in the visible range despite its lightweight and shock-resistant plastic components. FLIP detects light in visible and IR bands and reliably discriminates a nuclear blast from optical jamming. The FLIP principle of operation has been proven by demonstrating performance under laboratory conditions. Two working prototypes with variant ergonomically curved liquid crystal panels, and signal processing electronics were demonstrated. Both panels demonstrated >100 extinction, initial transmission of 36%-40%, and a response time of the fastest of <1 ms. FLIP is immune to electromagnetic interference that would cause false triggering, and, in the case of a power failure does not block visibility. In Phase II an optimized FLIP device prototype will be developed, and its capability to protect aircrews against TFB demonstrated on an HGU-55/P helmet with a SF helmet option.