CN102799040A - Method for preparing novel electronic control zooming polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for manufacturing a new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens. Firstly, a layer of photoresist is evenly coated on a glass substrate coated with a transparent conductive film by a rotary coating method, and then exposed, developed, etched, After making a cavity, pouring a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal prepolymer mixture, and curing by photopolymerization, a liquid crystal cell is obtained. Select the electrodes at specific addresses on the glass substrate of the liquid crystal cell, form a Fresnel zone plate and apply a voltage, and the liquid crystal director in the polymer dispersed liquid crystal will be changed by the applied electric field, so that the liquid crystal cell will appear as a Fresnel zone plate Distributed, the lens effect is presented by diffraction, the electrode address control circuit is used to change the selected electrode according to the address requirements, and new Fresnel zone plates with different focal lengths are assembled and voltage is applied to achieve the purpose of quasi-continuous zooming with subdivided focal lengths. The invention has excellent qualities such as no moving parts, low power consumption, short response time, accurate focusing, and easy miniaturization. It has broad application prospects.

Description

A new type of electronic control zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens manufacturing method

technical field

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a novel electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens, in particular to an electronically controlled zoom lens that requires small, integrated, non-moving parts, variable object distance and fixed imaging surface.

Background technique

Diffractive optics can not only increase the freedom of design in optical design, but also break through the limitations of many aspects of traditional optical systems. Therefore, it shows incomparable advantages of traditional optical systems in terms of improving system imaging quality, reducing volume and reducing cost, and has been valued by more and more optical designers. The zoom optical system has been widely used in various optical instruments, and some new design ideas emerge in an endless stream. The main idea of this design is to use the electro-optical characteristics of polymer dispersed liquid crystals to change the distribution of Fresnel wave bands through an external electric field to achieve the purpose of continuous zooming of the lens subdivision focal length, so that the lens structure is compact and light, and the zooming is more convenient and accurate. The complex mechanical movement of the lens in the traditional zoom system is avoided. Not only can it be widely used in various digital camera products, but it can also show its outstanding value in other fields such as military, medical, aerospace and many other fields.

Contents of the invention

Purpose of the invention: The present invention is to provide a new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens manufacturing method that is solid, has no moving parts, has high speed, low power consumption, and is beneficial to system miniaturization.

Technical solution: A method for manufacturing a new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens, the specific steps are:

(1) Prepare a mask plate with concentric rings of equal width, the width of the rings is submicron, the smaller the gap between adjacent rings, the better, and it is advisable to realize that two adjacent electrodes do not produce electrical connections;

(2) Prepare two circular glass substrates coated with ITO transparent conductive film, and evenly coat a layer of photoresist on the transparent conductive film glass substrate with electrode side with the rotating coating method;

(3) utilize the mask plate that makes in the step (1), the glass substrate that will be coated with photoresist is exposed under ultraviolet lithography machine, through development, etching, obtain ITO concentric ring electrode on glass substrate;

(4) Align the concentric ring electrodes on the two glass substrates, seal the surroundings with epoxy resin, and reserve a small opening to form a cavity, and the thickness of the cavity is controlled by a spacer;

(5) Pour the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal prepolymer mixture into the cavity, seal the reserved small opening, and then expose the liquid crystal cell under the uniform laser light field of 514nm emitted by the argon ion laser to make a polymer Dispersed liquid crystal cell;

(6) Utilize the electrode address control circuit to select the ITO concentric ring electrodes of a specific address to form a Fresnel zone plate pattern, each Fresnel zone ring is composed of a certain number of continuous ITO concentric ring electrodes, and the selected Voltage is applied to the electrodes, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal is regulated by the electric field, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the energized electrode area is parallel to the direction of the electric field. Therefore, the liquid crystal cell is distributed as a Fresnel zone plate under the control of the applied voltage. Diffraction presents a lens effect;

(7) By using the control circuit to change the energized ring electrode according to the electrode address requirements, Fresnel wave zone patterns with different focal lengths can be obtained to achieve the purpose of quasi-continuous zooming with subdivided focal lengths.

A new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens, which is composed of a liquid crystal box made of two circular glass substrates, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal in the box and an electrode address control circuit, which is characterized in that the two circular glass substrates It is engraved with ITO concentric ring electrodes, and the width of the ITO concentric ring electrodes is equal (sub-micron level). The smaller the gap between two adjacent concentric rings, the better. It is advisable to realize that the two adjacent electrodes do not produce electrical connections. The liquid crystal cell is formed by sealing two circular glass substrates against each other. The electrode address control circuit selects the electrode to apply the voltage according to the electrode address calculated in advance, and forms Fresnel zone plates with different focal lengths. The liquid crystal cell is filled with polymer dispersed liquid crystal material.

Beneficial effects: the present invention realizes zooming of the lens based on the method of electronically controlling polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and has excellent qualities such as solid state, no moving parts, short response time, accurate focusing, and easy miniaturization. Not only can it be widely used in various digital camera products, but it can also show its outstanding value in military, medical, aerospace and many other fields.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a circular glass substrate with ITO concentric ring electrodes

Figure 2 is the front view of the liquid crystal box

Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a liquid crystal cell

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the electrified ring electrode

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the focus of the electronically controlled polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens

Figure 6 is a comparison diagram of the electrified ring electrodes when the focal lengths are 3mm and 4mm respectively

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of zooming of electronically controlled polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens

Detailed ways

The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with implementation examples and accompanying drawings.

The present invention is a method for manufacturing a new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens, and the specific implementation steps are as follows:

(1) Prepare a mask plate with concentric rings of equal width, the width of the rings is submicron, the smaller the gap between adjacent rings, the better, and it is advisable to realize that two adjacent electrodes do not produce electrical connections;

(2) Prepare two circular glass substrates coated with ITO transparent conductive film, and evenly coat a layer of photoresist on the transparent conductive film glass substrate with electrode side with the rotating coating method;

(3) Utilize the mask plate made in step (1), expose the glass substrate coated with photoresist under a UV lithography machine, develop and etch, and obtain ITO concentric ring electrodes on the glass substrate, as shown in Figure 1 As shown, 101 in the figure is a glass substrate, 102 is a concentric ring electrode, and 103 is a non-electrode area;

(4) Align the concentric ring electrodes on the two glass substrates, seal the surroundings with epoxy resin, reserve a small opening to form a cavity, and the thickness of the cavity is controlled by a spacer;

(5) Pour the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal prepolymer mixture into the cavity, seal the reserved small opening, and then expose the liquid crystal cell under the uniform laser light field of 514nm emitted by the argon ion laser to make a polymer Dispersed liquid crystal liquid crystal cell, Fig. 2 shows the front view of the liquid crystal cell after pouring the polymer dispersed liquid crystal, 201 is epoxy resin sealing glue, 202 is the polymer dispersed liquid crystal in the liquid crystal cell, the schematic diagram of the liquid crystal cell section is shown in Fig. 3 As shown, wherein 301 is a concentric and equal-width annular electrode, 302 is an epoxy resin sealing glue, 303 is a polymer dispersed liquid crystal, and 304 is a glass substrate;

(6) Utilize the electrode address control circuit to select the ITO concentric ring electrodes of a specific address to form a Fresnel zone plate pattern, each Fresnel zone ring is composed of a certain number of continuous ITO concentric ring electrodes, and the selected Voltage is applied to the electrodes, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal is regulated by the electric field, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the energized electrode area is parallel to the direction of the electric field. Therefore, the liquid crystal cell is distributed as a Fresnel zone plate under the control of the applied voltage. Diffraction presents a lens effect. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the electrified circular electrode, wherein 401 is the electrified electrode area, 402 is the non-energized electrode area, and Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the focusing of the electrically controlled polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens, and 501 is the liquid crystal cell. 502 is the applied voltage to the ring electrode;

(7) Use the control circuit to change the energized ring electrode according to the electrode address requirements, and Fresnel wave zone patterns with different focal lengths can be obtained to achieve the purpose of subdividing the focal length and quasi-continuous zoom. Figure 6 shows that the focal lengths are respectively 3mm and 4mm. A comparison diagram of the energized ring electrode, and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of lens zooming.

A new type of electronically controlled zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens is composed of a liquid crystal box made of two circular glass substrates, a polymer dispersed liquid crystal in the box and an electrode address control circuit. It is characterized in that the two circular glass substrates are engraved with ITO concentric ring electrodes, the width of the ITO concentric ring electrodes is equal (submicron level), and the smaller the gap between two adjacent concentric rings is, the smaller the gap can be. It is advisable that two adjacent electrodes are not electrically connected. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a circular glass substrate with ITO concentric ring electrodes. In the figure, 101 is a glass substrate, 102 is a concentric ring electrode, and 103 is a non-electrode area. The liquid crystal cell is encapsulated by two circular glass substrates. Fig. 2 is a front view of the liquid crystal cell, 201 is an epoxy resin sealing glue, and 202 is a polymer dispersed liquid crystal in the liquid crystal cell. The schematic cross-sectional view of the liquid crystal cell is as follows As shown in FIG. 3 , 301 is a concentric and equal-width annular electrode, 302 is an epoxy resin sealing glue, 303 is a polymer dispersed liquid crystal, and 304 is a glass substrate. The electrode address control circuit selects electrodes for applying voltage according to the electrode addresses calculated in advance, and forms Fresnel zone plates with different focal lengths, and each Fresnel zone ring is composed of a certain number of continuous ITO concentric ring electrodes Composition, Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the electrified ring electrode, where 401 is the electrified electrode area, and 402 is the non-energized electrode area. Applying a voltage to the selected electrode, the direction of the liquid crystal director in the polymer dispersed liquid crystal is regulated by the electric field, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the electrified electrode area is parallel to the direction of the electric field. Therefore, the liquid crystal cell is a Fresnel zone plate under the control of the applied voltage The distribution shows the lens effect through diffraction. Figure 6 is a comparison of the electrified ring electrodes when the focal lengths are 3mm and 4mm respectively. Fresnel zone plates with different focal lengths can be assembled by selecting concentric ring electrodes with different addresses. The liquid crystal cell is filled with polymer dispersed liquid crystal material.

Claims (1)

1. A novel electronic control zoom polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens manufacturing method is characterized in that: comprising following specific manufacturing steps: ① Prepare a mask plate with concentric rings of equal width. The width of the rings is sub-micron, and the gap between adjacent rings should be as small as possible. It is advisable to realize that the two adjacent electrodes do not produce electrical connections; 2. Prepare two circular glass substrates coated with a transparent conductive film (ITO), and evenly coat a layer of photoresist on the electrode side of the transparent conductive film glass substrate with the rotating coating method; ③ Utilize the mask plate made in step ①, expose the glass substrate coated with photoresist under the ultraviolet lithography machine, develop and etch, and obtain the ITO concentric ring electrode on the glass substrate; ④ Align the concentric ring electrodes on the two glass substrates, seal the surroundings with epoxy resin, reserve a small opening to form a cavity, and control the thickness of the cavity with a spacer; ⑤Pour the polymer-dispersed liquid crystal prepolymer mixture into the cavity, seal the reserved small opening, and then expose the liquid crystal cell under the uniform laser light field of 514nm emitted by the argon ion laser to make polymer-dispersed liquid crystal LCD box; ⑥Use the electrode address control circuit to select the ITO concentric ring electrodes with a specific address to form a Fresnel zone plate. Each Fresnel zone ring is composed of a certain number of continuous ITO concentric ring electrodes, and the selected electrodes are applied Voltage, the direction of the liquid crystal director in the polymer dispersed liquid crystal is regulated by the electric field, and the direction of the liquid crystal director in the energized electrode area is parallel to the direction of the electric field. Therefore, the liquid crystal cell is distributed as a Fresnel zone plate under the control of the applied voltage, and it is shown by diffraction lens effect; ⑦ By using the control circuit to change the energized ring electrode according to the electrode address requirements, Fresnel wave zone patterns with different focal lengths can be obtained, and the quasi-continuous zooming of the lens subdivided focal length can be realized.

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