Liquid Crystal-based Beam Steering TechnoIogies for NASA Applications

John Pouch, Hung Nguyen, and Felix Miranda, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

Philip Bos, Oleg Lavrentovich, Xinghua Wang, Oleg Pishnyak, Liubov Kreminska, and Andrii Golovin, Liquid Crystal. Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH

Liquid crystal-based beam steering devices can provide electronic beam scanning to angles above 1 milliradian, sub-microradian beam pointing accuracy, as well as wave-front correction to maintain output optical beam quality. The liquid crystal technology effort will be summarized, and the potential application of the resulting devices to NASA space-based scenarios will be described.

c "'I

Liqu

id C

ryst

al-b

ased

Bea

m S

teer

ing

Con

cept

expa

nder

1

rn

* O

ptic

al p

hase

d ar

ray

(OP

A) p

rovi

des

fine

stee

ring

. R

ange

: 0.1

- 1

00 p

rad

Dig

ital b

eam

def

lect

or

prov

ides

Inte

rmed

iate

st

eeri

ng.

Ran

ge: 0

.1 - 7

mra

d

- La

rge

angl

e po

intin

g su

bsys

tem

. R

ange

: > 1

00 m

rad

stee

ring

st

eerin

g el

emen

ts

stee

ring

el

emen

ts

Sou

rce:

LC

IEK

SU

Ant

enna

. M

icro

wav

e an

d O

~ti

cal S

yste

ms

Bra

nch

Gle

nn

Res

earc

h C

ente

r at

Lew

is F

ield

Dis

trib

utio

n of

opt

ical

pat

h di

ffere

nce

(OP

D) p

rior t

o w

ave-

fr

ont

corr

ectio

n.

. .

. .

20

X A

xis

(mm

) Y

Axi

s (m

m)

So

urc

e: L

CH

KS

U

5

Ant

enna

. M

icro

wav

e an

d O

ptic

al S

vste

ms

Bra

nch

Gle

nn

Res

earc

h C

ente

r at

Lew

is F

ield

a E J 0

" a V ] ........... .-...

. .

* : 1. -fl ..:..... ..

.- . .'-:...+. '... f . . ' ' , - , ' 6,,@& ...................

::. . '- f 4

I., , u g I .

:, *; ,g '. sz-- ..... .,.. ....... , \-?<-

. ., ---"f" : $&,,+;< ' . . - . . . - - = =

Ref

eren

ces:

Diff

ract

ion

effic

ienc

y of

thin

film

hol

ogra

phic

bea

m s

teer

ing

devi

ces,

Cha

rles

Titu

s, J

ohn

Pou

ch, H

ung

Ngu

yen,

Fel

ix M

irand

a, a

nd P

hilip

Bos

, Pro

ceed

ings

of

the

SP

IE, 4

825,

177

(200

2)

Liqu

id c

ryst

al o

n si

licon

(LC

OS

) wav

efro

nt: c

orre

ctor

and

bea

m s

teer

er,

Xin

g hl

ra

Wan

g, B

in W

ang,

Joh

n P

ouch

, Fel

ix M

irand

a, M

icha

el F

isch

, Jam

es A

nder

son,

an

d P

hilip

Bos

, Pro

ceed

ings

of t

he S

PIE

, 51 6

2, -I 39 (2003)

Dig

ital b

eam

ste

erin

g de

vice

bas

ed o

n de

cocl

pled

bire

frin

gent

pris

m d

efle

ctor

and

po

lariz

atio

n ro

tato

r, O

leg

Pis

hnya

k, L

yubo

v K

rem

insk

a, O

leg

D. L

avre

ntov

ich,

Jo

hn J

. Pou

ch,

Fel

ix A

. M

irand

a, a

nd B

ruce

K. W

inke

r, N

AS

A T

echn

ical

M

emor

andu

m 2

1319

7 (2

004)

Per

form

ance

eva

luat

ion

of li

quid

cry

stal

on

silic

on (L

CO

S) s

patia

l lig

ht m

odul

ator

, X

ingh

ua W

ang,

Bin

Wan

g, J

ohn

Pou

ch, F

elix

Mira

nda,

Jam

es A

nder

son,

an

d P

hilip

Bos

, Opt

ical

Eng

inee

ring,

43,

2769

(20

04)

Lim

itatio

n of

liqu

id c

ryst

al o

n si

licon

spa

tial l

ight

mod

ulat

or fo

r ho

logr

aphi

c th

ree-

di

men

sion

al d

ispl

ays,

Xin

ghua

Wan

g, B

in W

ang,

Phi

lip J

. Bos

, Jam

es A

nder

son,

M

algo

rzat

a K

ugaw

insk

a, J

ohn

J. P

ouch

, and

Fel

ix A

. M

irand

a, S

ocie

ty fo

r In

form

atio

n D

ispl

ay,

Dig

est o

f the

200

4 In

tern

atio

nal S

ympo

sium

, "12

2 (2

004)

Ref

eren

ces

(con

tinue

d):

Spa

tial r

esol

utio

n lim

itatio

n of

liqu

id c

ryst

al s

patia

l lig

ht m

odul

ator

, Xin

ghua

W

ang,

Bin

Wan

g, P

aul F

. McM

anam

on, J

ohn

Pou

ch, F

elix

Mira

nda,

Jam

es

And

erso

n, a

nd P

hilip

Bos,

Pro

ceed

ings

of t

he S

PIE

, 55

53

,46

(200

4)

Lase

r bea

m s

teer

ingl

shap

ing

with

LC

oS 2-D O

PA

for f

ree

spac

e op

tical

co

mm

unic

atio

n, X

ingh

ua W

ang,

Bin

Wan

g, P

aul F

. McM

anam

on, J

ohn

Pou

ch,

Fel

ix M

irand

a, J

ames

And

erso

n, a

nd P

hilip

Bos

, Pro

ceed

ings

of t

he S

PIE

, 540

3,

782

(200

4)

FD

TD

sim

ulat

ion

of a

liqu

id c

ryst

al O

ptic

al p

hase

d ar

ray,

Xin

ghua

Wan

g, B

in W

ang,

P

hilip

J.

Bos

, Jam

es A

nder

son,

Joh

n J.

Pou

ch, a

nd M

ix A

. M

irand

a, J

ourn

al o

f the

O

ptic

al S

ocie

ty o

f Am

eric

a A,

22,346 (2005)

Mod

elin

g an

d de

sign

of a

n op

timiz

ed li

quid

-cry

stal

opt

ical

pha

sed

arra

y, X

ingh

ua

Wan

g, B

in W

ang,

Phi

lip J

. Bos,

Pau

l F. M

cMan

amon

, Joh

n J.

Pou

ch,

Fel

ix A

. M

irand

a, a

nd J

ames

E. A

nder

son,

Jou

rnal

of A

pplie

d P

hysi

cs, 9

8,

0731

OA (

2005

)

Sm

ectic

-A-f

illed

bire

frin

gent

ele

men

ts a

nd fa

st s

witc

hing

twis

ted

dual

-fre

quen

cy

nem

atic

cel

ls u

sed

for

digi

tal l

ight

def

lect

ion,

Ole

g P

ishn

yak,

And

rii G

olov

in,

hiub

ov K

rem

insk

a, J

ohn

J. P

ouch

, Fel

ix A

. M

irand

a, B

ruce

K. W

inke

r, an

d O

leg

D. L

avre

ntov

ich,

Opt

ical

Eng

inee

ring,

acc

epte

d fo

r pu

blic

atio

n (2

006)

Ant

enna

, Mic

row

ave

and

Opt

ical

Svs

tern

s B

ranc

h G

len

n R

esea

rch

Cen

ter

at L

ewis

Fie

ld