Demonstration of 3-dimensional wide angle laser beam scanner using liquid crystals

Design and demonstration of a versatile liquid crystal-based scanner is shown for steering a laser beam in three dimensions. The scanner consists of a unique combination of digital and analog control polarization-based beam forming optics resulting in both continuous and random fashion beam steering. The design features a novel device biasing method, large aperture beam-forming optics, low electrical power consumption, and ultrafine as well as wide angle coarse beam steering. Demonstrations include one, two and three dimensional beam steering with a maximum of 40.92 degree continuous scan, all at 1550 nm. The minimum scanner aperture is 1 cm diameter and uses a combination of ferroelectric and nematic liquid crystals in addition to Rutile crystal birefringent prisms.