DYNAMIC COHERENTLY COUPLED HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS USING LIQUID CRYSTAL

A NEW APPROACH TO DYNAMIC OPTICAL SWITCHING IS PROPOSED BASED ON NONLINEAR LIQUID CRYSTAL MATERIALS AND HOLOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES. THE HOLO-CRYSTAL SWITCH (HCS), A CONCEPT CONCEIVED AT POC, OFFERS HIGH PROMISE OF BEING THE PRECURSORTO THE NEXT GENERATION OF DYNAMIC HOLOGRAPHIC OPTICAL ELEMENTS. ITS PRIMARY INNOVATION: DYNAMICALLY VARIABLE REFLECTION OR TRANSMISSION. AS A HOLOGRAPHICALLY FABRICATEDELEMENT, THE DEVICE IS FLEXIBLE WITH RESPECT TO ITS DIFFRACTIVE PROPERTIES. THE HCS IS THE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND TOEMPLOY ADVANCED NONLINEAR LIQUID CRYSTAL MATERIALS TO MODULATE THE PHASE RELATION BETWEEN SPACIALLY COUPLED SUBHOLOGRAMS LEADING TO SIGNIFICANT VARIATIONS OF THE EFFECTIVE REFLECTIVITY. THE HCS WILL BENEFIT FUTURE NASA MISSIONS BY REPLACING CONVENTIONAL MICROWAVE SYSTEMS IN SPACE TRACKING AND IMAGING APPLICATIONS, AS WELL AS FIBER-OPTIC AND FREE-SPACE COMMUNICATION, OPTICAL COMPUTING,REMOTE SENSING, AND ALTIMETRY.