Flexible Liquid Crystal Eye Protection System

The Air Force is seeking goggle for aircrew eye protection against high intensity, rapid-onset thermal flashes such as from nuclear blasts. Existing protective devices are heavy, bulky, and logistically unsupportable. To overcome these limitations, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Flexible LIquid crystal eye Protection (FLIP) system based on high speed electro-optical effects in liquid crystals (LC) on flexible substrates. Protective devices based on FLIP system technology will have a large dynamic range (switching transmission from 20% in the open state to an attenuation density of 3, a change of more than a thousand times, and a high switching speed (within 100 microseconds). It will be stable despite nearby radar radiation, and resistant to false alarms from natural events such as lightning and reflection of sunlight from clouds, sea surfaces, etc. In addition, it will be lightweight and compact, with a wide viewing angle, made possible by new liquid crystal technology and commercial display development. Phase I will culminate in proof of the feasibility of the proposed design by experimentally building a working model and testing it. In Phase II a FLIP system will be developed for testing at an Air Force site.