Improvement in imaging contrast feature of liquid crystal lens with the dopant of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

An effective method to fabricate a high-contrast imaging liquid crystal (LC) lens with a relatively fast response time is proposed. This electrically tunable-focus LC lens is doped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and has a high-resistance layer. A grinding method is utilized to lower agglomeration of doping MWCNTs. With respect to the high-resistance layer, it can make maximum use of doped nanoparticles to behave with high-quality lens character. The principles of improvement in electro-optical properties are discussed. The experimental results show that the proposed LC lens is effectively improved. The LC lens has great potential in compact imaging systems. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America