Fast-Response Liquid Crystal for Spatial Light Modulator and LiDAR Applications

Abstract

We report a new nematic mixture for liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator (SLM) and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) applications. The mixture exhibits a relatively high birefringence (Δn), moderate dielectric anisotropy (Δɛ), low viscosity, and reasonably good photostability. To achieve 2π phase change at 5 V, the response time (on + off) is 2.5 ms at 40 °C with λ = 633 nm, and 5.9 ms with λ = 905 nm. After exposure by a blue laser (λ = 465 nm) with a total dosage up to 20 MJ/cm2, this mixture shows no sign of photodegradation. Widespread applications of this material for high brightness SLMs, LiDAR, near-eye displays, and head-up displays are foreseeable.