Doctoral thesis (Dissertations and theses)
Space-variant optical phase retarders in liquid crystal polymers and their applications
Piron, Pierre
2014
 

Files


Full Text
Space-variant optical phase retarders in LCP and applications.pdf
Author preprint (77.81 MB)
Download

All documents in ORBi are protected by a user license.

Send to



Details



Keywords :
polarization holography; liquid crystal polymers; space-variant retarders
Abstract :
[en] During the last decade, extensive investigations were performed to achieve optical phase retarders with a space-variant orientation of their fast axis. These retarders present unique behaviors and they can be used for several applications such as polarization analysis, beam splitting, phase mask coronagraphy, optical tweezers … The present thesis is dedicated to the development of space-variant retarders made out of liquid crystal polymers recorded by polarization holography. The liquid crystals define the fast axis orientation of the retarder. Polarization holography is based on the superimposition of differently polarized beams to achieve the electric field required to properly align the liquid crystals without mechanical action. In the present work, we start with an introduction about the space-variant retarders, their characteristics and current recording methods, which usually require mechanical action. In the second chapter, polarization holography and several simple examples are presented as well as the liquid crystal polymers, their generic recording process and the first prototypes. In chapter three, the first application that we developed is exposed. It consists in a polarization analysis method based on a retarder characterized by a variation in one dimension of its fast axis orientation. The principle of the method, numerical simulations and the first results are exposed. Chapter four cares about the second application based on a separator of polarization state. The mathematical model and its application to shearography are exposed. In chapter five, another kind of retarders is introduced. These retarders are characterized by a rotation of their fast axis along the center of the retarder. Their properties, the recording systems and the first prototypes are detailed and analyzed. In the last chapter, the application of our retarder to coronagraphy is presented and their performances are computed for different configurations based on experimental constrains. Finally, we conclude with the improvements of our applications and future uses of these retarders.
Disciplines :
Physics
Author, co-author :
Piron, Pierre ;  Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de physique > Optique - Hololab
Language :
English
Title :
Space-variant optical phase retarders in liquid crystal polymers and their applications
Defense date :
10 February 2014
Institution :
ULiège - Université de Liège
Degree :
Docteur en Sciences
Funders :
FRIA - Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture [BE]
Available on ORBi :
since 14 January 2014

Statistics


Number of views
133 (26 by ULiège)
Number of downloads
88 (11 by ULiège)

Bibliography


Similar publications



Contact ORBi