SBIR Phase I: LC material for high perf switchable multi functional holgraphic device

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to demonstrate the proof-of-concept of innovative switchable holographic devices through material research. The new holographic device, made from a novel liquid crystal and polymer composite material, consists of alternating polymer and liquid crystal planes without liquid crystal droplets and is expected to exhibit a higher performance than the prior technologies in terms of reflection efficiency, switching voltage, spectrum tuning flexibility, polarization flexibility, switching speed, and switching mode. The Phase I effort will be focused on a special liquid crystal composite material development that leads to the construction of demo devices. In addition to the switchable Bragg reflection, the demonstration devices will exhibit tunable Bragg wavelength and multiple switching modes. The new holographic technology can be used to build polarizer, spectrum dispersion element, spectrum tunable mirror, optical switch, spectrum filter, beam splitter and combiner for optical telecommunication, display and photonics instrument such as spectrophotometer, lasers, optical imaging and detection systems.