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A waveband-splitting method is proposed for open-loop liquid crystal adaptive optics systems (LC AOSs). The proposed method extends the working waveband, splits energy flexibly, and improves detection capability. Simulated analysis is performed for a waveband in the range of 350 nm to 950 nm. The results show that the optimal energy split is 7:3 for the wavefront sensor (WFS) and for the imaging camera with the waveband split into 350 nm to 700 nm and 700 nm to 950 nm, respectively. A validation experiment is conducted by measuring the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the WFS and the imaging camera. The results indicate that for the waveband-splitting method, the SNR of WFS is approximately equal to that of the imaging camera with a variation in the intensity. On the other hand, the SNR of the WFS is significantly different from that of the imaging camera for the polarized beam splitter energy splitting scheme. Therefore, the waveband-splitting method is more suitable for an open-loop LC AOS. An adaptive correction experiment is also performed on a 1.2-meter telescope. A star with a visual magnitude of 4.45 is observed and corrected and an angular resolution ability of 0.31″ is achieved. A double star with a combined visual magnitude of 4.3 is observed as well, and its two components are resolved after correction. The results indicate that the proposed method can significantly improve the detection capability of an open-loop LC AOS.

A simple method for evaluating the wavefront compensation error of diffractive liquid-crystal wavefront correctors (DLCWFCs) for atmospheric turbulence correction is reported. A simple formula which describes the relationship between pixel number, DLCWFC aperture, quantization level, and atmospheric coherence length was derived based on the calculated atmospheric turbulence wavefronts using Kolmogorov atmospheric turbulence theory. It was found that the pixel number across the DLCWFC aperture is a linear function of the telescope aperture and the quantization level, and it is an exponential function of the atmosphere coherence length. These results are useful for people using DLCWFCs in atmospheric turbulence correction for large-aperture telescopes.

A modal interaction matrix (IM) measurement procedure is introduced for a liquid-crystal (LC) corrector for use in a phase-wrapping technique. Zernike modes are used to reconstruct the aberration wavefront and to drive the LC corrector. Usually the driving area is different from the active area. This difference induces a coupling effect on Zernike modes, which may have an impact on correction precision. In this paper the coupling effect is evaluated due to area difference and decentration, respectively. Then, a simulated turbulence wavefront is used to simulate the reconstruction process to evaluate its influence on reconstruction precision. We present simulation results that show that this method can be used to measure the IM with very high reconstruction precision under proper configuration. In order to maintain precision, the permissible eccentricity distance is also simulated with a result of no more than 5% of the LC corrector diameter.

To generate time-evolving atmosphere turbulence in real time, a phase-generating method for our liquid-crystal (LC) atmosphere turbulence simulator (ATS) is derived based on the Fourier series (FS) method. A real matrix expression for generating turbulence phases is given and calculated with a graphic processing unit (GPU), the GeForce 8800 Ultra. A liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) with 256x256 pixels is used as the turbulence simulator. The total time to generate a turbulence phase is about 7.8 ms for calculation and readout with the GPU. A parallel processing method of calculating and sending a picture to the LCOS is used to improve the simulating speed of our LC ATS. Therefore, the real-time turbulence phase-generation frequency of our LC ATS is up to 128 Hz. To our knowledge, it is the highest speed used to generate a turbulence phase in real time.

A nematic liquid crystal adaptive optics system (NLC AOS) was assembled for a 2.16-m telescope to correct for atmospheric turbulence. LC AOS was designed and optimized with Zemax optical software. Second, an adaptive correction experiment was performed in the laboratory to test the performance of the NLC AOS. After the correction, the peak to valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) of the wavefront were down to 0.2 lambda (lambda=633 nm) and 0.05 lambda, respectively. Finally, the star of Pollux (beta Gem) was tracked using the 2.16-m Reflecting Telescope, and real time correction of the atmospheric turbulence was performed with the NLC AOS. After the adaptive correction, the average PV and RMS of the wavefront were reduced from 11 lambda and 2.5 lambda to 2.3 lambda and 0.6 lambda, respectively. Although the intensity distribution of the beta Gem was converged and its peak was sharp, a halo still existed around the peak. These results indicated that the NLC AOS only partially corrected the vertical atmospheric turbulence. The limitations of our NLC AOS are discussed and some proposals are made.

According to ocular aberration property and liquid crystal (LC) corrector characteristics, we calculated the minimum pixel demand of the LC corrector used for compensating large ocular aberrations. Then, an accommodation based optical configuration was introduced to reduce the demand. Based on this an adaptive optics (AO) retinal imaging system was built. Subjects with different defocus and astigmatism were tested to prove this. For myopia lower than 5D it performs well. When myopia is as large as 8D the accommodation error increased to nearly 3D, which requires the LC corrector to have 667 x 667 pixels to get a well-corrected image.

To correct horizontal turbulences, a nematic liquid crystal wavefront corrector (NLC WFC) with a fast response is used. It can linearly modulate 2pi radian at a wavelength of 633 nm. The closed-loop frequency of the adaptive optics system was originally only 12 Hz. Hence, a control system using the NLC WFC was developed, graphic processing units (GPUs) were used to compute the compensated wavefront, and the driving software for the NLC WFC was optimized. With these improvements, the closed loop frequency increased up to 60 Hz. Finally, the correction of a 500-m horizontal turbulence was performed with this fast adaptive system. After the correction, the averaged peak-to-valley (PV) and root-mean-square (RMS) values of the wavefront were reduced to 0.2 lambda and 0.06 lambda, respectively. The core of a fiber bundle is also resolved with a field angle of 0.68". As the limit of the angular resolution of the telescope is 0.65", the quasi-diffraction limited image is acquired with the closed-loop correction. It is shown that the NLC WFC has the ability to correct weak turbulences.

In the current solution for multiwavelength achromatic flat lenses, a one-to-one correspondence exists between the number of writing phase distributions and the number of achromatic wavelengths. Breaking this correspondence requires a complex phase design and parameter optimization. Here, we show that a dual-layer cascade liquid crystal Pancharatnam-Berry lens (CLCPBL) with two writing phase distributions and a specific coupled phase distribution between the layers can achieve three wavelength achromaticity without any parameter optimization process. Similarly, in a three-layer cascade, the number of achromatic wavelengths increases to seven through the permutations of the layers, with adjustable amplitude factors. We fabricate a three-layer CLCPBL with the design wavelengths of 396.8 nm, 1064 nm, and 1550 nm, which theoretically allows the light at 632.8, 532.8, 3383 and 450 nm to form a common focus, and test such structure. Our CLCPBL enables a wider range of applications than conventional achromatic flat lenses. Metalenses are lightweight and compact alternative to achromatic lens assemblies, but they usually fulfill the focusing requirements for a single wavelength. The authors design and fabricate a cascade liquid crystal Pancharatnam-Berry lens that enables a seven-wavelength achromatic focusing in a broad range of frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a simple method of designing a high-speed liquid crystal variable retarder (LCVR) with reflection mode. First, a series of simple formulas is provided for analysing the effects of tilt incidence and birefringence of the liquid crystal on the phase retardation and response time of the LCVR. Then, a reflective LCVR is fabricated to validate the theoretical analysis. Measured results show that the response speed can reach 2.7 kHz with a phase retardation of 1 λ. Furthermore, the theoretical curve is close to the measured curve while the incident angle is less than 10°. However, the theoretical and measured values show a considerable difference under a large incident angle. This problem is discussed, and a modified method is given. This work is helpful for the design and fabrication of high-speed LCVR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The average orientation of a liquid crystal (LC) director to the grating formation, morphology, and switching properties of a holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (HPDLC) grating was systematically investigated in this study. The grating possessed high diffraction efficiency and low scattering with the LC director being parallel to the grating vector. The scanning electron microscope confirmed the well-defined morphology with the LC director being parallel to the grating vector. The grating was easily switched when the LC director was perpendicular to the grating vector. Moreover, polarization excitation was performed to investigate the polarization dependence behavior of the HPDLC-distributed feedback (DFB) laser. The results confirmed that the HPDLC grating is suitable as a laser oscillation when the LC director is parallel to the grating vector. Finally, the tuning range was obtained for the HPDLC DFB laser by applying an external electric field. The tunability, ease of fabrication, and mass production make the HPDLC DFB lasers suitable as smart laser sources for spectroscopy and communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental analysis was conducted to investigate the fitting error of diffractive liquid crystal wavefront correctors (LCWFCs). First, an experiment was performed to validate the theoretical equations presented in our previous work Cao et al., 2009 [9] . The results showed an apparent discrepancy between the theoretical and measured results for the fitting error. This difference was examined and the influence of nonlinearities and rounding errors generated by the LCWFC was analyzed and discussed. Finally, the fitting error formula of the LCWFC was modified to obtain a more effective tool for the design of LCWFCs for atmospheric turbulence correction. These results will be useful for researchers who design liquid crystal adaptive optics systems for large-aperture ground-based telescopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a crucial technique to improve the dynamic response characteristics of a liquid crystal wavefront corrector (LCWFC) with optimal cell gap since the LCWFC needs at least 2π(orπ) phase modulation in adaptive optics systems (AOSs). We have given a complete process for obtaining the optimal cell gap accurately from a single photoelectric measurement, which can be conducted with a liquid crystal (LC) cell of any known thickness. This method has been analysed theoretically and confirmed experimentally by using a wedge-shaped cell; the experimental results match very well with the theoretical analysis. The response time of an optimal gap cell can be a novel evaluation method of response performance of LC materials. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Self-aligned liquid crystals containing randomly dispersed nanoparticles are proposed to realise hyperbolic metamaterials at visible spectrum. Opposite signs for anisotropic permittivity tensors originated from the scattering of metallic nanoparticles in liquid crystals are achieved. Tunable effective wavelength properties are also demonstrated by choosing dielectric-metal core-shell nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafast switchable wide angle negative refraction in a novel dual-frequency liquid crystal mixture is demonstrated experimentally. Laterally fluorinated isothiocyanato phenyl-tolane liquid crystal compound is doped into Merck MLC-2048 to acquire the high birefringence dual-frequency liquid crystal. The maximum negative refraction angle achieved is about 12° and the switching time is only 25 ms for a 40-μm cell which is two orders faster than switchable negative refraction achieved before in nematic liquid crystals. Such properties provide a feasible approach to design negative refraction devices based on liquid crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three kinds of low-viscosity difluorooxymethylene-bridged (CF2O) liquid crystals (LCs) were synthesised. These materials exhibit low melting point and low viscosity at room temperature. The viscosity of the final LC mixture significantly decreased when LC compounds were mixed with high-birefringence (Δn) isothiocyanato LCs. The tested curves with varied temperatures of LC mixtures showed that some CF2O LC compounds could enhance the response performance of high-ΔnLCs in a specific temperature range. Therefore, LC compounds with low viscosity could become a component of LC mixtures with fast response performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel liquid crystal wave front corrector (LCWFC) based open loop adaptive optics testbed for nonpolarized light was introduced in this paper. A polarizing beam splitter (PBS) was used behind the LCWFC to divide the reflected nonpolarized light into two orthogonal polarized lights with and without the modulation effect for high resolution imaging and aberration detection respectively. The alignment direction of LC molecules was parallel to the polarization direction of the light PBS reflected. This configuration was simple and easy for construction. It avoided the energy loss due to the use of polarizer for conventional LCWFC based closed loop adaptive optics system. Furthermore, it could be switched into closed loop configuration very easily, which was useful for quantitative system performance evaluation. The detailed construction and operation was reported in Section 2. In Section 3, this testbed was deployed at the coude focus of the 2.16m telescope at the Xinglong Station of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory. The observation of star Arcturus was done. The Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) resolution was improved from 2.12″ to 0.64″ successfully. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A method to improve the loop frequency of liquid crystal adaptive optics systems (LC AOSs) was investigated. Based on open-loop control, a concurrent control scheme was proposed and the correction frequency of the LC AOS was increased from 85Hz to 212Hz. A simulated correction analysis illustrates that the distortion rejection ability of our LC AOS was improved with −1.1dB by using the concurrent control technique. A 500m horizontal turbulence correction experiment was done to validate our considerations. Firstly, 500m horizontal turbulence was measured and its Greenwood frequency and atmospheric coherence length is 31.5Hz and 4–5cm, respectively. Then, 500m horizontal turbulence was corrected in real time by using consecutive and concurrent control methods. The corrected results indicate that the resolution and contrast of the image was significantly improved by the concurrent control method. These results show that the concurrent control method can be used for LC AOSs to improve the correction frequency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Temperature effect on the diffraction efficiency of the liquid crystal spatial light modulator is investigated. The birefringence of the liquid crystal as functions of the temperature is measured with and without the power supply. It is shown that the birefringence reduces while the temperature increases. And the change magnitude of the birefringence has an exponential decay relation with the applied voltage for different temperature intervals. The scalar diffractive theory is used to analyze this effect on the diffraction efficiency. It indicates that the diffraction efficiency decreases from 98.7% to 27.2% while the temperature increases from 10 to 90°C for 16 quantified levels. At last, temperature effect on its applications in optical testing and wavefront correction is discussed. It indicates that it has almost no effect on optical testing, but has an important effect on wavefront correction. And two solutions are given to eliminate this effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The adaptive optics system (AOS) often operates in a discrete sampling process with finite closed-loop frequency. Reconstruction, detection, and time lag induced errors are the main correction errors of the system. An AOS that is based on a liquid crystal (LC) benefits from the LC’s high correction precision, thus the reconstruction error can be ignored. The primary error will be induced by the time lag from the time of detection to the time of compensation. In this paper, some theoretical simulations are introduced in order to evaluate the correction precision of AOS with an LC corrector. The main purpose is to compare the correction precision between the open-loop and closed-loop control. We attempt to find a method to ascertain the exact precision of the open-loop control and show whether it improves the correction precision. The conclusion is thus reached that the actual error rejection bandwidth for the closed-loop was lower than the −3dB error rejection bandwidth measured in practice. The increased refresh frequency of the open-loop control can improve the imaging performance to nearly −3dB bandwidth of the detector measured, which is the maximum possible bandwidth due to the time lag. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The performance degradation and compensation method of the beam-steering device based on liquid crystal polarization grating (LCPG) and liquid crystal adjustable half-wave plate (LCAHWP) is studied. • This beam-steering device can still work at a laser power density of 16 W/cm2 irradiation. • The laser tolerance of the device is higher than that of liquid crystal optical phased array (LCOPA) and liquid crystal micro-lens array (LCMLA). The effects of laser irradiation thermal deposition on the performance degradation of liquid crystal (LC) devices in high-power laser systems are extremely vital. In this study, the first-order beam-steering system (FBS) was developed using a passive liquid crystal polarization grating (LCPG) and liquid crystal adjustable wave-plate (LCAW). The LCPG was prepared by holographic exposure technology, and the LCAW was prepared using the standard LC cell preparation process. We investigated the influences of diffraction efficiency of FBS under a 1070-nm continuous-wave (CW) laser irradiation. The energy is concentrated in the −1st order at first. When the half-wave retardation was reached, all the energy is concentrated in the +1st order (∼97 %), and the beam is deflected. Once the phase retardation decreases below the half-wave retardation, the energy gradually reconcentrates in the −1st order. When the LCAW fails, the diffraction the energy is refocused to the −1st order by the LCPG. The results indicated that both thermal deposition and driving voltage reduce the phase retardation of the LCAW, generating a variation of energy between in ± 1 st orders. By reducing the driving voltage, this half-wave retardation can be recovered under a certain half-wave voltage and laser power density, and the diffraction efficiency of the +1st order can be compensated to ∼97 %. If the reduced phase retardation is not less than half-wave, the FBS can still be modulated in high-power continuous lasers. Our research provides a reference for the development of beam-steering technology based on LC materials in high-power laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liquid crystal polarization gratings (LCPGs) possess unique optical properties and therefore are widely used in laser systems. Therefore, developing our understanding of the laser damage resistance of LCPGs is critical for future high-intensity laser applications. In this study, the LCPGs (Λ = 8 μm) were fabricated from liquid crystal polymer (LCP) films with photo-alignment technology, which had a small-angle (∼7.51°) diffraction order with high diffraction efficiency (∼92 %) under chiral polarized incidence at 1064 nm. The diffraction efficiency and polarization of each diffraction order were determined by the polarization of the incident light. The damage characteristics of the LCPGs were investigated using a chiral polarized nanosecond laser at 1064 nm in a one-on-one test. The laser-induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) of left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) and right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) were 8.0 J/cm2 and 8.5 J/cm2, respectively. For comparison, the LIDTs of S-polarization and P-polarization were 7.8 J/cm2 and 8.4 J/cm2, respectively. All the damage occurred at the interface between the LCP layer and the substrate when the laser fluence was near the LIDT, and the damage morphology was observed with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), including flat pits, cracks, and bumps at the edge of the pits. The results indicate that the LIDTs and damage morphology of the LCPGs were insensitive to the polarization of the irradiation. The electrical effects of differently polarized irradiation on the LCPGs were simulated using the finite element method (FEM). The electric field distribution was symmetrical under irradiation by LHCP and RHCP lasers. However, the distribution of the electric field under different linearly polarized irradiation conditions were distinct. Based on these findings, we believe that the contribution of chiral polarized irradiation to the damage was consistent and that the LIDTs were similar. This study has important implications for the application and development of LCPGs in high-intensity laser systems. • The laser-induced damage of liquid crystal polarization gratings (LCPGs) is first proposed. • We investigated the laser-induced damage of the LCPGs using a nanosecond pulsed laser with chiral polarized irradiation. • This study provides reference for the application and development of LCPGs in high-intensity laser systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate stopband modulation in a corrugated parallel plate waveguide (PPWG) in terahertz (THz) frequency. Different from the traditional approaches to achieve narrow band-pass filter, a method based on the junction of two stopbands is provided. Two stopbands can come closer through adjustment of plate distance and controlling the grooves depth, which generate a narrowband transmission region. It is found that plate distance can control the interval of two stopbands. On optimization of plate distance, the filter can achieve a range of zero-sideband, high transmissivity (T=99.8%), narrow linewidth (5.8 GHz), and high-quality factor (Q ≈ 220). Furthermore, we also present the designs of tunable filter and modulate performance when liquid crystal (LC) is used as waveguide material. So, an excellent tunable filtering characteristic has been achieved. Finally, this work provides a new possibility for the designing of narrow band-pass filter devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A set of liquid crystal adaptive optics system for visible light is installed for 2-meter telescope in Changchun, China. To get higher resolution images after adaptive optics, phase diversity (PD) is applied. Two liquid crystal spatial light modulators were used for two polarized states of light, and they were also used for two channel correction of focused image and diversity image. Observations about star HD 29139 were performed on March 23, 2018. The results of the star with the PD show that the full width half maximum was decreased from about 10 pixels to 4 pixels, corresponding to angular resolution improved from 0.5" to 0.2". The peak intensity was improved by 66.7% after the PD. The root mean square of the wavefront estimated using the PD agrees with the Strehl ratio of observed image after adaptive optics. The observed results indicate that the PD technique can significantly improve the image resolution after liquid crystal adaptive optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To process real-time wavefront signal in our liquid crystal adaptive optics system (LCAOS), a real-time wavefront processor (RTWP) with graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerator is developed. A series of parallel acceleration algorithm is implemented to reconstruct wavefront, compute gray map and process lookup table (LUT). Especially, an algorithm by using symmetry of Zernike polynomial is designed to compute gray map and it provides a speedup of 3.16. Finally, the total computing time in our RTWP is 109μs and temporal bandwidth in our LCAOS is 45Hz; it is shown that our RTWP has the ability to real time process wavefront signal in our LCAOS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]