Non-etched flat polarization-selective diffractive optical elements

A method of fabricating an optical element comprising:

• a) coating a substrate with a linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer;
• b) irradiating the linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer with linearly polarized ultra-violet light at an oblique angle;
• c) coating a layer of liquid crystal material on a surface of the irradiated linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer;
• wherein an out-of-plane tilt angle of liquid crystal directors in the liquid crystal material is dependent on a total dose of the linearly polarized ultra-violet light;
• and
• wherein the linearly polarized ultra-violet light is selected to induce the out-of-plane tilt angle of the liquid crystal directors in the liquid crystal material to vary across a surface of the liquid crystal material layer;
• and
• wherein the linearly polarized ultra-violet light includes at least one dose of linearly polarized ultra-violet light selected to induce formation of a plurality of discrete regions within the liquid crystal layer that are randomly distributed, each discrete region having a larger in-plane birefringence than an adjacent region.

A method of fabricating an optical element comprising:

• a) coating a substrate with a linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer;
• b) irradiating the linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer with linearly polarized ultra-violet light at an oblique angle;
• c) coating a layer of liquid crystal material on a surface of the irradiated linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer;
• wherein an out-of-plane tilt angle of liquid crystal directors in the liquid crystal material is dependent on a total dose of the linearly polarized ultra-violet light;
• and
• wherein the linearly polarized ultra-violet light is selected to induce the out-of-plane tilt angle of the liquid crystal directors in the liquid crystal material to vary across a surface of the liquid crystal material layer;
• and
• wherein the linearly polarized ultra-violet light includes at least one dose of linearly polarized light sufficiently low to induce formation of a plurality of regions within the liquid crystal layer that are randomly distributed, each of the randomly distributed regions having a larger in-plane birefringence than an adjacent region.

A method of fabricating an optical element including a liquid crystal layer having a spatially-varying tilt angle, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) coating a substrate with a linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer;
• b) irradiating the linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer with linearly polarized ultra-violet light at an oblique angle;
• and,
• c) coating a layer of liquid crystal material on a surface of the irradiated linearly photopolymerizable polymer layer,
• wherein an out-of-plane tilt of liquid crystal directors in the liquid crystal material is dependent on a total dose of the linearly polarized ultra-violet light, and
• wherein the linearly polarized ultra-violet light is selected to induce formation of a plurality of discrete regions within the liquid crystal layer, each discrete region having a larger in-plane birefringence than an adjacent region.