
College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
Shin-Tson Wu (swu@creol.ucf.edu)
Published:31 August 2021,
Published Online:28 June 2021,
Received:08 February 2021,
Revised:28 May 2021,
Accepted:10 June 2021
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He Z. Q., Yin K. & Wu S. T. Miniature planar telescopes for efficient, wide-angle, high-precision beam steering. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 1445-1454 (2021).
He Z. Q., Yin K. & Wu S. T. Miniature planar telescopes for efficient, wide-angle, high-precision beam steering. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 1445-1454 (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-021-00576-9.
Non-mechanical beam steerers with lightweight
compact
high-efficiency
high-precision
and/or large-angle are pivotal for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) of autonomous vehicles
eye-tracking for near-eye displays
microscopy
optical tweezers
and high-precision three-dimensional (3D) printing. However
even the most matured optical phased array can only provide quasi-continuous
efficient beam steering within a small angle range. A telescope module with an angle magnification function can be coupled to enlarge the steering range or precision. But obtaining a compact
low-cost
lightweight
high-quality telescope module with conventional optics remains challenging. Patterned liquid crystal-based planar optical elements offer great design freedom for manipulating the phase profile of light in 2D space. Owing to the advantages of high efficiency
thinness
low cost
easy processing
flexibility
and response to environmental stimuli
a plethora of high-quality optical devices have been demonstrated. Here
a miniature planar telescope mediated by liquid crystal polymers is proposed to offer angle magnification independent of incident spatial location. It consists of two cascaded liquid crystal planar optical elements
each performing a predefined mathematical transformation. By this concept
planar optical elements are fabricated using a new exposure method and assembled into planar telescopes with different magnification factors. Within the incident field range
over 84.6% optical efficiency is achieved with small wavefront distortion. Such a miniature planar telescope shows the potential of cascaded liquid crystal planar optical elements for realizing functionalities that cannot be fulfilled by single optical elements
and enables lightweight
low loss
passive optical transmitters for widespread applications.
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