| The electrically scanning liquid crystal microlenses (ESLCMs), as one of the new type of optical components, show some special electro-optical properties. Through changing the voltage applied over on the ESLCMs’electrodes, the spatial arrangement of the liquid crystal (LC) molecules can be varied and thus the spatial distribution of the refractive index of them changed, so as to show particular optical properties. The focus length of ESLCMs can be changed by variance the controlling voltage of ESLCMs, when voltage is applied to multiple electrodes at the same time, can even be the focus of swing over the ESLCMs. As the excellent optical proprieties mentioned above, it is widely used in adaptive optics, high-performance imaging detection and optical, etc.The article introduces the type of LC, the LC theory, and the development trend of LC technology,and describes the electro-optical properties of LC. Then, the four-circle-shaped electrodes for electrically scanning LC structure is designed, and then the technological flow of the LC devices is also described in detail. Firstly, the photomask used to fabricate controlling electrode over one side of the LC device is designed by AUTO-CAD, and then the correspondent electrode is made through traditional method including typical UV-photolithography and development and wet chemical etching. The aligned layer of LC molecule is made by coating a polyimide film, PI curing, and rubbing. Finally, the electrically scanning LC microlens with four-circle-shaped electrode is obtained through the technological processes including put isolation medium over LC electrode plate, and filling LC materials into the cavity, and packaging LC structure. A set of technological flow for device fabrication is established and several key technological parameters are acquired. At last, common optical system for testing electrical and optical properties of the device is designed and constructed. The conventional optical performances of ESLCMs fabricated are tested. The experimental results show,by adjusting the distance between the CCD imaging device and liquid crystal microlens,and the applied voltage between the electrodes can effectively implement focus; can be observed when the only change an electrode voltage to the focus of the swing. |
