Cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array based on interdigital electrodes

Based on the traditional structure of in plane switching liquid crystal display, a cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array driven by interdigital electrodes is proposed, and its performance is studied. Firstly, the director distribution and relative phase difference distribution of liquid crystal molecules were calculated, which shows that this structure can be used to fabricate cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens. Then, by comparing lenses of difference sizes, it is found that narrow electrodes should be selected for lens production, and the centre of the electrode gap should be selected as the central axis of a single liquid crystal micro-lens. Finally, a certain electrode structure is selected to explore its focal length, focusing quality and zoom time. The results show that the focal length of the liquid crystal micro-lens decreases gradually with the increase of the driving voltage. When the driving voltage is between 3 V-rms and 5.5 V-rms, the liquid crystal micro-lens has good focusing quality, and its corresponding focal length changes from 1.63 mm to 20.28 mm. Based on this structure, when the liquid crystal lens is driven by the above two voltages alternately, the time required for liquid crystal molecules to reach stability is 2.35 s and 3.87 s respectively.

Automated summary

Based on the traditional structure of in plane switching liquid crystal display, a cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens array driven by interdigital electrodes is proposed and studied. The results show that this structure can be used to fabricate cylindrical liquid crystal micro-lens, and narrow electrodes should be selected for lens production. The focal length of the liquid crystal micro-lens decreases with the increase of the driving voltage, and when the driving voltage is between 3 V-rms and 5.5 V-rms, the lens exhibits good focusing quality.