Continuous liquid crystal alignment patterns for geometric phase optics
AssigneeFacebook Technologies, LLC
InventorsGiuseppe Calafiore, Wai Sze Tiffany Lam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A layered optical element includes a substrate layer, an electrode layer disposed on the substrate layer, a liquid crystal (LC) layer comprising LC molecules, and a nanopatterned alignment layer in physical contact with the LC layer and disposed on a surface of either the substrate layer or the electrode layer. The nanopatterned alignment layer includes an arrangement of nanostructures, e.g., a grouping of nanolines. For a subset of the grouping of nanolines, the nanolines are configured to orient the LC molecules along a varying local orientation direction of each of nanoline in the subset. The varying local orientation direction of each nanoline in the subset can vary along a length of each nanoline.
Claims20
A layered optical element comprising:
- a substrate layer;
- an electrode layer disposed on the substrate layer;
- a liquid crystal (LC) layer comprising LC molecules;
- and
- a nanopatterned alignment layer in physical contact with the LC layer and disposed on a surface of either the substrate layer or the electrode layer,
- wherein the nanopatterned alignment layer comprises a plurality of nanostructures,
- wherein the plurality of nanostructures comprises, on a plane parallel to the substrate layer, a plurality of nanolines, and
- wherein, for each nanoline of a subset of the plurality of nanolines,
- the nanoline has a curved shape on the plane, the curved shape characterized by a varying local orientation direction along a length of the nanoline on the plane, and
- the nanoline is configured to orient the LC molecules parallel to the varying local orientation direction of the nanoline along the length of the nanoline when no electric field is applied to the LC layer.
A nanoimprint pattern mold comprising:
- a mold substrate;
- and
- a nanopattern layer disposed on the mold substrate, the nanopattern layer comprising a nanopattern on a surface of the nanopattern layer,
- wherein the nanopattern comprises a plurality of nanostructures disposed across the surface of the nanopattern layer,
- wherein the plurality of nanostructures comprises a plurality of nanolines, and
- wherein each nanoline in a subset of the plurality of nanolines has a curved shape characterized by a local orientation direction varying along a length of the nanoline on the surface of the nanopattern layer such that a corresponding imprinted nanoline imprinted using the nanoimprint pattern mold is curved and is configured to orient liquid crystal molecules in a direction parallel to a local orientation direction of the imprinted nanoline along a length of the imprinted nanoline.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.