Lateral field based liquid crystal electro-optic polarizer

An electro-optic polarizor comprising:

• a first glass plate;
• a first alignment surfactant coated on one surface of the first glass plate;
• a second glass plate;
• a second alignment surfactant coated on one surface of the second glass plate;
• a transparent interdigitated electrode pattern disposed between the second glass plate and the second alignment surfactant;
• a thin film of homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal sandwiched between the first and second alignment surfactants for applying a lateral electric field across the liquid crystal to alter the optical properties of the liquid crystal such that a polarization dependent grating is induced by the lateral electric field;
• and
• an optical beam selector placed a distance away from the transparent interdigitated electrode pattern such that the optical beam selector filters all non-zero orders of light diffracted from the transparent interdigitated electrode pattern for allowing only the zero order to pass, thereby attenuating all non-zero orders such that the overall light intensity is attenuated.