Cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array based on interdigital electrodes

ABSTRACT

Based on the traditional structure of in plane switching liquid crystal display, a cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array driven by interdigital electrodes is proposed, and its performance is studied. Firstly, the director distribution and relative phase difference distribution of liquid crystal molecules were calculated, which shows that this structure can be used to fabricate cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens. Then, by comparing lenses of difference sizes, it is found that narrow electrodes should be selected for lens production, and the centre of the electrode gap should be selected as the central axis of a single liquid crystal micro-lens. Finally, a certain electrode structure is selected to explore its focal length, focusing quality and zoom time. The results show that the focal length of the liquid crystal micro-lens decreases gradually with the increase of the driving voltage. When the driving voltage is between 3 V_rms and 5.5 V_rms, the liquid crystal micro-lens has good focusing quality, and its corresponding focal length changes from 1.63 mm to 20.28 mm. Based on this structure, when the liquid crystal lens is driven by the above two voltages alternately, the time required for liquid crystal molecules to reach stability is 2.35 s and 3.87 s respectively.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Liquid crystal lens
• interdigital electrode
• electrically tunable focus
• zoom time

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China under Grant [No. A2019202235]; Science and Technology Project of Guannan County under Grant [No. GN202101].