Improvement in Switching Speed of Nematic Liquid Crystal Microlens Array with Polarization Independence

Abstract

The switching speed of a polarization-independent microlens array fabricated with a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) in the configuration of a plano-convex lens is improved by the reactive mesogen (RM) mixed in an alignment layer. Due to the NLC rotating directions predetermined by the polymerized RM, the direct switching from a vertical alignment to a spiral one is obtained without going through a metastable splay state, which gives rise to slow response in the vertically aligned NLC microlens with polarization independence.