Construction of liquid crystal cell for acoustic imaging
AssigneeRaj Technology, Inc.
InventorJaswinder S. Sandhu
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Abstract
An acoustic imaging system which employs a liquid crystal cell for detecting acoustic energy and displaying an image. The cell includes a layer of liquid crystal material which is disposed between and encapsulated by a pair of cover members. At least one of the cover members is a laminated structure having at least two plies. The plies are of different materials and the thickness of each ply is governed by the expression n .lambda./2, where n is an integer, and .lambda. is the wavelength of the acoustic energy in the cover materials. This structure enhances cell rigidity and the uniform of thickness of the liquid crystal layer in larger sized cells, while maintaining good transmission for energy angularly incident on the cell.
Claims17
A liquid crystal cell for use in detecting acoustic energy and displaying an image, said cell having a layer of liquid crystal material disposed and encapsulated between a pair of substantially acoustically transparent covers, at least one of which is optically transparent, wherein:
- at least one of said covers is a laminated member and includes at least two plies of different materials, each of said plies having a thickness determined by the relationship t=n .lambda./2;
- where:
- t is the individual ply thickness,
- n is an integer greater than or equal to one, and
- .lambda. is the wavelength of the acoustic energy, in the cover material, used to image the object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.