The proposed project aims to develop electro-optic routing switches suitable for fiber optic networks. by employing light valves using ferroelectric liquid crystals, the devices to be developed would exhibit microsecond to submicrosecond switching times, low electrical power consumption, low… More

The proposed work aims to develop programmable optical spatial filters using novel spatial light modulators (slm) made from linear arrays of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) light valves. the flc technology allows simple, economical fabrication of slms with a large number of elements that can… More

The proposed work aims to develop electro-optic shutters that have a unique combination of operating properties resulting from their use of ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs). the electro-optic characteristics of flcs would allow the shutter fast switching (20 microseconds) at low drive voltage… More

The proposed project aims to exploit the high-speed electro-optic properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs) to make optical crossbar switches. these switches would allow large numbers (hundredsto thousands) of input light beams modulated at ghz rates to be connected in any possible… More

The long range scientific goals of this research are to increase understanding of the correlation of molecular structure with physical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) phases, and to test strategies for design of new materials. the practical goal is the invention of new flc materials… More

Ferroellectric liquid crystals exhibit low voltage, low power electro-optic switching with very fast (microsecond) response. flcs can be employed in a simple geometry to make arrays of electro-optic waveguide coupling switches, suitable for multi-input, multi-output applications. the proposed work… More

Novel, high performance spatial light modulators (slm) are being developed from arrays of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) light valves. the flc technology allows simple, economical fabrication of slms with a large number of elements that can be easily addressed either electronically or optically.… More

The proposed work aims to develop novel, high-performance spatial light modulators (slms) by joining ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs), a fast, low-voltage, low-power electro-optic material, with silicon integrated circuits (isc). the resulting slms may be either electronically or optically… More

The objective of the proposed work is to produce fast switching, low-power, low-cost, high resolution optical phase conjugators for novel applications to tracking novelty filtering. the optical phase conjugating device described in this proposal uses a si:h photosensorsin the photodiode mode to… More

The proposed work aims to develop novel, high-performance spatial light modulators (slms) by joining ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs), a fast, low-voltage, low-power electro-optic material, with silicon integrated circuits (ics). the resulting slms may be either electronically or optically… More

Ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs) exhibit low voltage, low power electro-optic switching with very fast (microsecond) response and high optical efficiency. these characteristics make possible the application of flcs in combination with a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (asi:h) photosensing layers… More

The proposed work aims to develop novel, high performance spatial light modulators (slm) made from arrays of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) light valves. the flc technology allows simple, economical fabrication of slms with a large number of elements that can be easily addressed either… More

The proposed project aims to develop a 1 x 2 electro-optic switch for use with multimode optical fibers. by employing light valves having ferroelectric liquid crystals as the electro-optic medium, the devices to be developed would exhibit switching times at or below 1 microsecond. the devices would… More

Ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs) exhibit low voltage, low power electro-optic switching with very fast (microsecond) response and high optical efficiency. these characteristics make possible the application of flcs in combination with a hydrogenated amorphous silicon (asi:h) photosensing layers… More

The proposed work aims to develop a multicolor flat panel information display by combining a monochrome, high-information-content panel with an electrically tunable color filter. multicolor images are presented by sequentially presenting monochrome images in the three primary colors while… More

The long range scientific goals of this research are to increase understanding of the correlation of molecular structure with physical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) phases, and to test strategies for design of new materials. the practical goal is the invention of new flc materials… More

We propose to develop a family of novel optical devices based on optically addressed spatial light modulators employing polarization selective reflectors. these devices can exhibit optical bistability at very low light levels, hence should be useful for a wide variety of optical processing… More

Operations such as edge and motion detection tax current and future conventional digital electronic image processing systems. we propose a novel integrated device capable of performing these functions in real time. our device is based on the "silicon retina" of carver mead, but adds optical outputs,… More

While military applications of midand far-infrared sensing are increasing, there are very few technologies available for light modulation in those spectral bands. we propose to develop non-mechanical shutters using the electro-optic effect in ferroelectric liquid crystals. the shutters we propose… More

One factor limiting the use of optics in applications such as communications, laser radar, and optical processing is the lack of a satisfactory technology for the steering and shaping of optical beams. similar problems have existed for radar and radio communications systems. in those technologies,… More

Ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs) are fast (10 microseconds), low-voltage, low-power electro-optic materials that are very suitable for hydribization with vlsi circuits to make a variety of novel opto-electronic devices, e.g. 265 x 256 spatial light modulators with 10 khz frame rates. since the… More

One factor limiting the use of optics in applications such as communications, laser radar, and optical processing is the lack of a satisfactory technology for the steering and shaping of optical beams. similar problems have existed for radar and radio communications systems. in those technologies,… More

This effort investigates the use of the high-speed electro-optical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals (flc) to make optical crossbar switches. these switches would permit large numbers (hundreds to thousands) of input light beams modulated at ghz rates to be connected to an equally large… More

The proposed research will develop ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) waveguide components for optical switching, beam steering, and non-linear optics (nlo) applications. the optical switching and beam steering flc components will take advantage of the fast switching, the low power consumption and… More

Mechanical beam steering systems are limited in speed, compactness, reliability, and accuracy. similar difficulties were encountered in the development of radar systems. in the case of radar, the development of phased array antennas allowed greater speed and flexibility than was ever possible using… More

Virtually all materials currently used for second-order non-linear optical (nlo) applications are crystalline. although they have high nlo susceptibilities, large crystals have the disadvantages of beingboth difficult to grow and shocksensitive. ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs) can self-assemble… More

The proposed work aims to develop multi-level or analog spatial light modulators (slms) that integrate photodetectors and electronic interand intra-cell processing. we will investigate a variety of analog optical modulation effects in ferroelectric liquid crystals (flcs), and we will develop… More

Although the number of uses for infrared (ir) light is constantly growing, the technology needed for high-speed modulation of ir light is still in a state of infancy. most ir modulators are mechanical in nature, although some work has been done using inherently slow nematic liquid crystal light… More

Optical switching and interconnects are of growing interest due to the increasing demands for higher data rates and larger numbers of data channels created by advanced computing and communications systems. free-space optical switching and interconnects (such as the image based switch) are attractive… More

The long range scientific goals of this research are to increase understanding of the correlation of molecular structure with physical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) phases, and to test strategies for design of new materials. specifically, the work is aimed at inventingnew flc… More

The proposed work aims to develop optoelectronic image processing devices that integrate photodetectors and light modulators into large arrays of "smart" pixels. these devices exploit a hybrid optoelectronic technology that places fast ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) light modulators directly… More

WE PROPOSE A NOVEL METHOD FOR PROVIDING OPTICAL MODULATOR PADS ON SILICON VLST CIRCUITS. OUR TECHNIQUE SHOULD ENABLE MODULATOR PAD ARRAYS OF NEARLY ARBITRARY CONFIGURATION, WITH MINIMUM PAD GEOMETRIES OF A FEW MICRONS SQUARE. MODULATOR RESPONSE TIMES LESS THAN 1 ns SHOULD BE ACHIEVED. THE TECHNIQUE… More

A new class of nonlinearly active materials has been developed: x(2) ferroelectric liquid crystals (x(2) FLCs). This class has several advantages over other classes of materials such as crystals or poled photochromic polymers. FLCs readily form low-light-loss polar films of any thickness; no poling… More

The miniaturization of full-color, high-resolution information displays is a problem that will be difficult to solve by extension of existing display technologies. we propose here a solution that utilizes a combination of existing commercially-driven technologies to yield displays that overcome… More

Our objective is to create a compact and portable high-resolution film recorder for producing hardcopies of electronic medical images. The target product will be price-competitive with CRT-basedrecorders, but will offer higher resolutions that will keep pace with those expected from… More

The proposed work aims to develop "smart" spatial light modulators (SLMs) that integrate photodetectors, light modulators, and electronic processing. These SLMs exploit an easily fabricated hybrid optoelectronic technology that places ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) light modulators directly atop… More

New Materials possessing fast nonlinear optical (NLO) susceptibilities, in particular materials with high second order nonlinearity chi squared, are greatly needed in the emerging photonics industry. The chi squared NLO materials in use today are large, high quality inorganic crystals, which have… More

The optical visualization of air or gas flow and the inducedstress field is crucial to many applications in aerodynamicresearch. A new liquid crystal shear sensor based onferroelectric liquid crystals has been shown to respond in thesub-millisecond t

The miniaturization of high-resolution displays for head and helmet mounting is a problem that will be difficult to solve by extension of conventional display technologies. We propose here a solution that uses a novel active-matrix LCD image source wherein a reflective, conventionally processed… More

The proposed work aims to develop "smart" spatial light modulators (slms) that integrate photodetectors, light modulators, and electronic intra- and inter-cell processing. these slms exploit a hybrid optoelectronic technology that places ferroelectric liquid crystal (flc) light modulators directly… More

Ferroelectric (chiral) smectic c(*) liquid crystals (flcs) exhibit high speed and multistate electro-optic and display device applications, particularly when incorporated into the surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid (ssflc) light valve. the two state (digital nature of the ssflc device possesses… More

Use of optical processing has been limited in part due to complex manufacturing requirements and bulky packaging. Our goal is to develop a practical generic technology for the manufacture of two-dimensional optical signal processing systems in planar optics. Our primary focus will be on the use of… More

Our goal is to develop a compact, inexpensive, electro-optic chopper for infrared (IR) light whichwill enable the manufacture of compact gas analyzers. The availability of this compact instrument willgreatly enhance monitoring of anesthetic and physiological gases. Choppers used in current… More

The push for faster image processing and high speed, higher density memory is driving the search for technologies which can enhance or replace conventional electronics. It has been known for decades that optics has the potential to surpass electronics in certain areas but its use has been… More

Untethered head mounted displays must be battery operated to achieve the benefits of mobility expected for them. Thus, the display element inside should operate at low voltage and consume small amounts of power to provide maximum battery life. Battery operation also demands that the display… More

Advanced, smart pixel spatial light modulators (SLMs) should be able to simultaneously accept multiple two-dimensional inputs (e.g. images or control signals), and be able to produce multi-state or fully analog two-dimensional optical outputs. Furthermore, the wavefront quality of the optical… More

Important emerging technologies such as adaptive optics (e.g., scintillation control), optical signal processing, and miniature displays require spatial light modulators (SLMs) which can control the amplitude or phase of optical wave fronts. In most cases suitable SLMs are not yet available. New… More

Our goal is to develop a display system capable of creating volumetric three-dimensional (3-D) moving images using readily available optics in combination with a high frame-rate ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) display which has been developed by Displaytech. Until now the multi-planar technique… More

Megapixel ferroelectric liquid crystal on silicon displays have been demonstrated with monochrome images having one bit of gray scale. The proposed work would develop color and gray scale techniques to allow operation with red, green and blue primary colors having five or more bits of gray scale.… More

Important emerging technologies such as adaptive optics (e.g., scintillation control), optical signal processing, and miniature displays require spatial light modulators (SLMs) which can control the amplitude or phase of optical wave fronts. In most cases suitable SLMs are not yet available. New… More

Correlations and convolutions are fundamental tools of signal and image processing. Applications include object recognition, automatic tracking and guidance, machine vision for automated manufacturing processes, autonomous vehicles, and general purpose image processing such as searching and… More

Not Available Conventional photo-conductive and scintillation-based detectors have inherent limitations due to the fundamental problems associated with extracting secondary particles (electrons, holes or scintillation photons) from a detection medium. These problems include impurity attachment,… More

"Specially engineered self-assembling ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLCs) structures are capable of photonic bandgap functions, light emission, GHz electro-optic modulation, and second harmonic generation. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the ability tointegrate FLCs with silicon integrated… More

It has long been known that optical phased array (OPA) beam steering can be performed by liquid crystal devices, yet available liquid crystals are either too slow for many applications (1 ms - 100's of milliseconds) or they are incapable of producing thenecessary range of analog phase modulation.… More

The use of optics in telecommunications and signal processing has not reached its full potential in part because of a lack of generic technologies for the fabrication of low-cost, high performance integrated devices. Furthermore, future speed requirementsare anticipated to exceed the capabilities… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)Phase I project aims to investigate the development of photo-reconfigureable surfaces that will enable control of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) alignment and switching properties in ways not previously possible. The central problem is that the… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will explore the development of a new class of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) materials and a novel FLC operating mode to produce fast, analog, electro-optical phase modulation. The innovation exploits two new developments in the… More

Enormous data capacities and high read/write rates make optical holographic data stor-age (HDS) systems the most promising approach for next-generation computer mass-storage solutions. Recent breakthroughs in holographic recording media have dramatically accelerated the development of commercial HDS… More

It has long been known that optical phased array (OPA) beam steering can be performed by liquid crystal devices, yet available liquid crystals are either too slow for many applications (1 ms - 100's of milliseconds) or they are incapable of producing the necessary range of analog phase modulation.… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a new class of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) materials and novel operating mode to produce fast, analog, electro-optic phase modulation. This innovation exploits two recent developments in liquid crystal science: a new… More

We propose the development of fast (~1 ms) spatial light modulators (SLMs) for application in near (1.8 to 2.5 micron), mid (3 to 5.5 micron) and long-wave (8 to 14 micron) infrared wavelength bands. The proposed SLMs exploit a newly discovered "sheared liquid crystal" (SLC) effect to deliver fast… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to explore the development of a fundamentally new class of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) containing germanium. Only one germanium liquid crystal compound has been prepared until this year. A new germanium compound has… More

High information content electronic displays remain the most difficult element of the human-machine interface to effectively miniaturize. Mobile applications need a high-definition display small enough to variously be comfortably worn, easily integrated into crowded cockpits, or fit into spacecraft… More

We propose development of innovative head-mounted display (HMD) imagers that combine a commercially-proven technology with performance characteristics that would let a single display product serve a wide range of military HMD applications. Our HMDs are based on low-voltage/fast-switching… More

We propose development of innovative head-mounted display (HMD) imagers that combine a commercially-proven technology with performance characteristics that would let a single display product serve a wide range of military HMD applications. Our HMDs are based on low-voltage/fast-switching… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop germanium-containing ferroelectric liquid crystals (Ge-FLC's), a fundamentally new class of LC materials that enable migration of microdisplays into camera and automotive applications with billion-dollar available display… More

Current helmet mounted display (HMD) image sources are CRT-based and suffer from multiple issues, including weight, safety and cost resulting from drive electronics and high voltage disconnect, and packaging. Currently available emissive and transmissive miniature flat panel displays do not provide… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to test the feasibility of developing families of complex liquid crystal molecules that offer previously unobtainable material properties; advanced electro-optic capabilities in particular. For decades, predominant liquid crystal… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop commercially practical bistable FLC displays. Ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) attractively combine a high speed electro-optic effect with very low-power drive, but, absent bistability, suffer restrictions on… More

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase (STTR) I research project aims to test the feasibility of combining recent advances in the science and technology of ferroelectric liquid crystals with advances in nanoscale feature engineering (sputter rippling) to produce a new generation of displays… More

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to exploit novel dimer ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to develop a new class of materials for electro-optics (EO) and non-linear optics (NLO) that offer previously unobtainable properties. This will enable advanced… More

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to examine the feasibility of developing a new class of bent-core NLO ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) capable of advanced, low cost, laser light sources for displays on the basis of their strong second harmonic generation (SHG). These… More