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Polarisation independent liquid crystal lenses and contact lenses using embossed reactive mesogens
Author(s) -
Jones J. Cliff,
Wahle Markus,
Bailey James,
Moorhouse Tom,
Snow Benjamin,
Sargent Joe
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of the society for information display
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1938-3657
pISSN - 1071-0922
DOI - 10.1002/jsid.874
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , materials science , birefringence , optics , lens (geology) , presbyopia , liquid crystal display , optoelectronics , phase (matter) , physics , quantum mechanics
Liquid crystal lenses have promise in optical systems owing to their tunability combined with low electrical power, cost, and weight. A good example of such a system is switchable contact lenses for the correction of age‐related presbyopia. Sufficiently large phase modulation can be done using nematic liquid crystals in a meniscus lens configuration. However, the birefringent materials are inherently polarisation dependent, usually requiring orthogonal polarisations to be focussed separately. A novel method is presented for producing polarisation independent lenses based on reactive mesogens. Results are presented for a 2‐level and 3‐level diffractive Fresnel lenses, and the promise of the technique for use in refractive lenses such as contact lenses is discussed.