Abstract

Rapidly tunable optical filters have applications in remote sensing, signal processing, colorimetry, color displays, and communications. In this paper we present simulation and experimental results of electronically tunable filter structures employing smectic A^* electroclinic and smectic C^* liquid crystals. The first FLC tunable filter demonstrated¹ used smectic C^* material in a Lyot filter² geometry and was discretely tunable between two bands centered at 440 and 660 nm. Current research aimed at making continuously tunable structures with narrow bandwidths, tunability over a free spectral range, high throughput, and large aperture is described. Computer simulations are used to analyze the devices using network synthesis techniques.³

© 1989 Optical Society of America