Thin-film broadband and wide-angle devices for generating and sampling polarization states
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
InventorsStanley Pau, Wei-Liang Hsu
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Abstract
Exemplary thin-film optical devices have first and second layer groups disposed as a layer stack on a substrate. The first layer group comprises a first PPN layer, a first LCP layer, and a first barrier layer all superposed. The second layer group is superposed relative to the first layer group, and includes a second PPN layer, a second LCP layer, and a second barrier layer all superposed. The first and second layer groups cooperate to polarize multiple wavelengths of an incident light flux in a broadband and/or wide-angle manner Each of the layer groups has an alignment layer, a respective liquid-crystal polymer layer, and a barrier layer.
Claims20
An optical device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a color filter array;
- and
- first and second retarder layer groups forming a layer stack on the substrate, the first retarder layer group comprising a first alignment layer and a first liquid-crystal-polymer (LCP) layer, the first LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules in the first alignment layer;
- the second retarder layer group comprising a second alignment layer and a second LCP layer, the second LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules of the second alignment layer;
- and
- a polarization layer group in the stack, the polarization layer group comprising a respective alignment layer and a respective LCP layer, the respective LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules of the respective alignment layer, wherein the optical device is pixelated, wherein each pixel is responsive to different respective polarization states of incident light at different colors, wherein the polarization states are linear, elliptical, and/or circular polarization states.
An optical device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- a color filter array;
- first and second retarder layer groups forming a layer stack on the substrate, the first retarder layer group comprising a first alignment layer and a first liquid-crystal-polymer (LCP) layer, the first LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules in the first alignment layer;
- the second retarder layer group comprising a second alignment layer and a second LCP layer, the second LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules of the second alignment layer;
- and
- a linear polarizer in the stack, wherein the optical device is pixelated and configured as an ambient light sensor, wherein each pixel is responsive to different respective polarization states of incident light in respective colors, wherein the polarization states are linear, elliptical and/or circular polarization states.
An optical device, comprising:
- a substrate;
- first and second retarder layer groups forming a layer stack on the substrate, the first retarder layer group comprising a first alignment layer and a first liquid-crystal-polymer (LCP) layer, the first LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules in the first alignment layer;
- the second retarder layer group comprising a second alignment layer and a second LCP layer, the second LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules of the second alignment layer;
- and
- a polarization layer group in the stack, the polarization layer group comprising a respective alignment layer and a respective LCP layer, the respective LCP layer including molecules aligned with molecules of the respective alignment layer, wherein the device is pixelated and configured as a color and polarization mask, wherein each pixel is arranged to generate different respective polarization states of light at different colors, wherein the polarization states are linear, elliptical, and/or circular polarization states.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.