Abstract

We are currently investigating electrically controlled liquid phase gratings for use in flat panel 3-D diffractive displays. These phase gratings are formed utilizing "fringing" electric fields from interdigitated electrodes penetrating a thin film of homeo- tropically aligned liquid crystalline material. By using the fringing field configuration, which was first used by Prost and Pershan to investigate flexoelectric effects in nematic liquid crystals,¹ we are able to obtain anisotropic phase gratings with periods limited only by the lithographic process used to fabricate the interdigitated electrodes. For example, we have successfully fabricated such phase gratings with periods as small as 0.8 μm which we believe to be the highest spatial frequency (1250 lines pairs/mm) ever formed by electrodes in liquid crystalline material.

© 1994 Optical Society of America