CN104317116B - Electric control liquid-crystal light divergence microlens array chip on basis of graphene electrodes - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses an electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on nano-graphene electrodes, including a drive control signal input port and a graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, and the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array is m×n elements , the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array adopts a liquid crystal interlayer structure, and a first substrate, a patterned graphene electrode, a first liquid crystal alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, a second liquid crystal alignment layer, a graphene The electrode, the second substrate, the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode are fabricated on the first substrate and the second substrate respectively, and the patterned graphene electrode is separated by m×n micro rings and connected by micro wires The micro-circular graphene is arranged in an orderly manner, and a metal electrode lead is extended from the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode respectively. The device of the invention has the characteristics of long service life, high reliability, easy coupling with conventional optical, photoelectric and mechanical structures, good environmental adaptability and the like.

Description

An electronically controlled liquid crystal light-diverging microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes

technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of optical precision measurement and control, and more specifically relates to an electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes.

Background technique

In recent years, electronically controlled liquid crystal microlens technology has developed rapidly, in the aspects of electronically controlled convergence, divergence, shaping, collimation, focusing, focusing, coupling and even integration with photosensitive arrays and LED arrays, and construction of special light functional structures. , showing good prospects for development. The typical functions that have been presented include: (1) Applying electric driving control signals on the arrayed liquid crystal microstructure, the light convergence, light divergence, or characteristic phase transformation that can be performed can be expanded, solidified, or modulated in any beam state (2) The beam transformation effect of the electronically controlled liquid crystal microstructure is constrained, intervened or guided by prior knowledge or beam processing results; (3) The time response constant of the micron-scale thickness electronically controlled liquid crystal material that performs the light control operation has reached The sub-millisecond level, the laboratory level is as fast as the microsecond level, which can meet the conventional dynamic light control needs. At present, how to further develop liquid crystal microlens technology with stronger light control ability, faster response, higher reliability, longer service life, lower cost and environmental friendliness has become a new research and development hotspot.

So far, based on the precious metal alloy film electrode to build a space electric field in the liquid crystal material with a thickness of micron, the defects of controlling the liquid crystal to perform light control treatment are mainly manifested in the following aspects: (1) The electrode based on the film alloy material must have sufficient thickness to carry It is used to excite the positive and negative space charge regions of the thin layer of the space electric field loaded on the liquid crystal material, so that the liquid crystal molecules present a specific dipole spatial arrangement; The large surface impedance makes the micron-scale deep space electric field excited between the patterned surface electrode pairs in the device have spatial inhomogeneity based on configuration; (3) The film alloy electrode has a strong thermal effect, and the long-term thermal Accumulation will inhibit the activity of liquid crystal molecules distributed near the initial orientation structure of the liquid crystal, reduce the efficiency of liquid crystal molecule orientation arrangement under the action of electric drive control and the corresponding electric control dielectric capacity, and will further increase the impedance of the metal electrode, affecting the performance of the device. Electrically controlled response sensitivity; (4) The film alloy electrode presents narrow-band optical gating and spectral transmission inhomogeneity; (5) The electrons driven by the electric field to increase the energy state will overflow from the metal film electrode and penetrate the initial orientation structure of the liquid crystal After the electrons enter the liquid crystal material, they neutralize the polar groups of the liquid crystal molecules to reduce the dielectric capacity of the liquid crystal material; (6) The price of precious metal alloy materials is high, and there is environmental pollution in the production of materials and liquid crystal devices. . Since the beginning of the new century, the development of surface electrode technology with nanometer thickness, high electrical conductivity, low thermal efficiency and wide-spectrum adaptability has attracted extensive attention.

Graphene technology, which was born at the turn of the century, has developed rapidly in recent years and has so far exhibited excellent electrical carrier properties, such as the ultra-superior properties that carriers such as electrons or holes can travel almost freely in graphene. Strong conductivity and extremely low resistance, generally only absorb no more than 3% of visible light and infrared waves, ultra-high light transmittance and ultra-wide spectrum adaptability, and the speed of transferring electrons at room temperature is much faster than that of various known conductive materials. The ultra-high electron mobility exhibited by the material, based on the nano-thickness single-layer or multi-layer nested architecture of the hexagonal network connection, shows the super structural stability, firmness, flexibility, corrosion resistance and strong field resistance The perturbation ability is based on the excellent structural matching and coupling exhibited by the two-dimensional network structure with most currently known optical, optoelectronic and microelectronic materials. Based on the potential advantages of nano-graphene film in electrode construction, the construction of electronically controlled liquid crystal microlens technology based on graphene film has an urgent need in the development of advanced optical precision measurement and control technology.

Contents of the invention

Aiming at the above defects or improvement needs of the prior art, the present invention provides an electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes, which can realize electronically controlled shaping and fine adjustment of the patterned light field of the micro-circular light hole array Changeable, easy to couple with other optical optoelectronic mechanical structures, good environmental adaptability.

In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, an electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on nano-graphene electrodes is provided, including a drive control signal input port, and a graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, graphene The liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array is m×n elements, wherein m and n are both integers greater than 1, and the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array adopts a liquid crystal sandwich structure, and the first substrate, patterned The graphene electrode, the first liquid crystal alignment layer, the liquid crystal layer, the second liquid crystal alignment layer, the graphene electrode, the second substrate, the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode are made on the first substrate and the second substrate respectively, The patterned graphene electrode is composed of m×n micro-circular graphene isolated by micro-rings and connected by micro-wires. A metal electrode extends from the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode respectively. The lead wires are connected to both ends of the input port of the driving control signal, and the input port of the driving control signal is used to provide voltage signals for the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode.

Preferably, after light waves enter the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, they are discretized into sub-incident beam arrays, and each sub-incident beam interacts with liquid crystal molecules under the excitation of a controlled electric field, and is diverged into micro-optic hole sub-waves defined by micro rings Field, and through coupling to form a micro-optical aperture array transmission beam output from the chip.

Preferably, the chip also includes a chip housing, the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array is located in the chip housing and is fixedly connected to it, and the light incident surface and the light exit surface of the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array pass through the top surface of the chip housing and the bottom surface are exposed through windows, and the drive control signal input port is arranged on the chip casing and exposed outside through the side opening of the chip casing.

Preferably, both the first liquid crystal alignment layer and the second liquid crystal alignment layer are made of polyimide.

Preferably, the first substrate and the second substrate have the same optical material.

Generally speaking, compared with the prior art, the above technical solutions conceived by the present invention can achieve the following beneficial effects:

1. Capable of electronically controlling the shaping and modulating the light field of micro-optical hole arrays: the present invention uses graphene electrodes to drive and control liquid crystal materials for arrayed astigmatism, which has the advantage of efficiently freezing the outgoing beam in a specific shape or modulating it to a predetermined shape.

2. Wide spectral range: Based on the wide spectrum and high light transmission characteristics of graphene materials, the chip has the advantage of wide spectral range.

3. High control efficiency and long device life: due to the use of graphene molds with super-conductive and electric control characteristics to make electrodes, the influence of electronic ions on the polarization behavior of liquid crystal materials is eliminated, and the device has the advantages of high electrical control efficiency and long life. .

4. Intelligent: By modulating the electric drive control signal loaded on the graphene electrode, the construction and modulation operation of the beam shape of the patterned transmitted light field can be restricted and intervened in prior knowledge or wave field pattern characteristics. Or expand under guidance, with intelligent features.

5. Easy to use: the main body of the light control chip of the present invention is a graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array packaged in the chip shell, which is convenient to configure in the optical path, and is easy to match and couple with conventional optical, optoelectronic and mechanical structures.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural representation of the electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on the graphene electrode of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the structural representation of graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of light beam conversion based on the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens of the present invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same elements or structures, wherein:

1-drive control signal input port, 2-graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, 3-chip housing.

detailed description

In order to make the object, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described here are only used to explain the present invention, not to limit the present invention. In addition, the technical features involved in the various embodiments of the present invention described below can be combined with each other as long as they do not constitute a conflict with each other.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes of the present invention includes a drive signal input port, a graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array 2 , and a chip housing 3 .

The graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array 2 is located in the chip housing 3 and is fixedly connected thereto.

The light incident surface and the light outgoing surface of the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array are exposed through opening windows on the top surface and the bottom surface of the chip housing 3 .

The driving signal input port 1 is arranged on the chip case 3 and exposed outside through the side opening of the chip case 3 .

The graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array has m×n elements, where m and n are both integers greater than 1. The interconnected central micro-circular graphene isolated by the micro-annulus in each liquid crystal astigmatism micro-lens and the graphene material outside the micro-annulus are powered on synchronously.

After the light wave enters the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array 2, it is discretized into sub-incident beam arrays according to the scale and arrangement of the micro-lenses, and each sub-incident beam interacts with liquid crystal molecules excited by a controlled electric field, and is diverged into The sub-wave field of the micro-optic hole defined by the circular light ring is coupled to form a micro-optic hole array transmission beam that is output from the chip.

As shown in Figure 2, the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array of the embodiment of the present invention adopts a liquid crystal sandwich structure, and a first substrate, a patterned graphene electrode, a first liquid crystal alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, a second liquid crystal alignment layer, a graphene electrode, and a second substrate.

The patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode are fabricated on the first substrate and the second substrate with the same optical material respectively.

Both the first liquid crystal alignment layer and the second liquid crystal alignment layer are made of polyimide, but it should be understood that the alignment layer material is not limited thereto, and may also be other channel materials capable of forming nanoscale depth and width.

The patterned graphene electrode is composed of m×n micro-circular graphene isolated by micro-rings and connected by micro-wires.

A metal electrode lead is respectively extended from the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode, and connected to both ends of the drive control signal input port 1, and the patterned graphene electrodes in each element microlens are powered on synchronously.

As shown in Figure 3, the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens of the present invention carries out beam divergence, which is realized by loading a voltage signal V between the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode, and the local divergent light field is also shown in the figure The virtual focal length and virtual focal spot characteristics of its typical microcircular aperture and divergent beam. In order to enhance the light beam processing capability, anti-reflection coatings of the same material are respectively formed on the light incident surface and the light exit surface of the first substrate and the second substrate.

In order for those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the working principle of the electronically controlled liquid crystal light-diverging microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 .

The electronically controlled liquid crystal light divergence microlens array chip based on graphene electrodes is placed in the test light path, or placed at the focal plane of the optical system composed of the primary mirror, and can also be configured with weak defocus.

The signal line is connected to the input port of the driving control signal, and the voltage signal is input and loaded on the electronically controlled liquid crystal light-diverging microlens array.

After the light beam enters the graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, it interacts with the liquid crystal molecules and becomes arrayed and divergent. The voltage signal loaded on the graphene electrode excites a space electric field between the patterned graphene electrode and the graphene electrode, and drives the filled liquid crystal material to form a functional liquid crystal structure with a specific refractive index spatial distribution. The sub-divergent light field constructed by the light beam transformation effect of each unit liquid crystal micro-lens is composed of a central dark spot-shaped micro-optical hole defined by a micro-circle with a specific aperture. The brightness of the ring, the aperture and the extinction ratio in the hole, etc., change with the change of the mean square amplitude or frequency of the driving control signal.

The divergent light field emitted from the adjacent microlenses is coupled to form the transmitted light field of the micro-optical hole array and output from the chip. The graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens includes liquid crystal material, liquid crystal alignment layer, graphene electrode, metal electrode lead, optical substrate and anti-reflection film, etc. The upper and lower surfaces of the liquid crystal material are sequentially covered with a liquid crystal alignment layer, a graphene electrode, a substrate and an antireflection film.

It is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention, All should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (5)

1. a kind of microlens array chip is dissipated based on the electrically-controlled liquid crystal light of Graphene electrodes, including control signal input port, And Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array it is characterised in that

Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array is m × n unit, and wherein m, n are the integer more than 1；

Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array adopt be sequentially arranged between sandwiching liquid crystal structure, and lower upper strata the first substrate, Patterned Graphene electrodes, the first liquid crystal alignment layer, liquid crystal layer, the second liquid crystal alignment layer, Graphene electrodes, the second substrate；

Patterned Graphene electrodes and Graphene electrodes are produced on the first substrate and the second substrate；

Patterned Graphene electrodes are with the isolation of micro- annulus the micro-circle Graphene ordered arrangement with micro-line connection by m × n Constitute；

Each extend over out a metal electrode lead from patterned Graphene electrodes and Graphene electrodes, and it is defeated to access driving control signal The two ends of inbound port；

It is patterned Graphene electrodes that control signal input port is used for and Graphene electrodes provide voltage signal；

Outside the center micro-circle Graphene isolated by micro- annulus interconnecting in each Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism lenticule and micro- annulus Grapheme material synchronously powered up.

2. electrically-controlled liquid crystal light according to claim 1 dissipates microlens array chip it is characterised in that light wave enters graphite After alkene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array, it is discretized into sub- incident wave beam battle array, under each sub- incident wave beam is encouraged with controlled electrical field Liquid crystal molecule interacts, and is diverged to low-light Confucius's wave field that micro- annulus defines, and coupled formation low-light hole battle array transmitted wave Bundle is from chip output.

3. electrically-controlled liquid crystal light according to claim 1 dissipate microlens array chip it is characterised in that

Described chip also includes chip housing；

Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array is located in chip housing and is connected with it；

The light entrance face of Graphene liquid crystal astigmatism microlens array and light-emitting face, are opened a window by the top surface and bottom surface of chip housing Exposed out；

Control signal input port is arranged in chip housing, and exposed outside by the lateral opening hole of chip housing.

4. electrically-controlled liquid crystal light according to claim 1 dissipates microlens array chip it is characterised in that the first liquid crystal aligning Layer and the second liquid crystal alignment layer are made by polyimides.

5. electrically-controlled liquid crystal light according to claim 1 dissipates microlens array chip it is characterised in that the first substrate and Two substrates have identical optical material.