High-efficiency, dynamic optical beam steering device using Pancharatnam phase

A large aperture, non-mechanical beam steering device is proposed that demonstrates a defect free, continuous phase profile, for a high-efficiency beam steering. The device uses a fringe field electrode structure, a vertical surface alignment of the liquid crystal director, and, to our knowledge, a novel two-step voltage application method to produce a linear Pancharatnam phase gradient that can be electrically tuned. An example optical beam steering device is numerically calculated and demonstrates steering angles of IR light (1550 nm) from less than 1 deg to greater than 10 deg with an efficiency of over 80%. This new approach provides previously unobtainable beam steering performance in a single layer, Pancharatnam phase device.