Tunable electrode-optic liquid crystal lenses having resistive bridges and methods for forming the lenses

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9280020-B2
Application number	US-80294310-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2010
Priority date	Jun 19, 2009
Publication date	Mar 8, 2016
Grant date	Mar 8, 2016

Abstract

Electro-optic lenses, including liquid crystals, wherein the power of the lenses can be modified by application of an electric field. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal-based lenses include ring electrodes having a resistive bridge located between adjacent electrodes, and in a preferred embodiment, input connections for several electrode rings are spaced on the lens. In a further embodiment, liquid crystal-based lenses are provided that can increase optical power through the use of phase resets, wherein in one embodiment, a lens includes ring electrodes on surfaces of the substrates on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell such that a fixed phase term can be added to each set of electrodes that allows for phase change across each group of electrodes to be the same and also be matched with respect to a previous group.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tunable electro-optic lens device, comprising:
at least two substantially transparent substrates, a substantially transparent conductive electrode layer operatively connected to each substrate,
wherein:
at least one of the electrode layers is patterned and includes a plurality of ring electrodes that form a resistive divider network;
at least one ring electrode of the plurality of ring electrodes is electrically connected to an adjacent ring electrode of the plurality of ring electrodes by a resistive bridge that electrically bridges a substantially annular insulating gap that is substantially co-planar with the resistive bridge, the resistive bridge comprising a resistive path across the insulating gap, the resistive path comprising an electrically conductive material bordered by a non-conductive material or an area free from conductive material;
the at least one ring electrode is electrically connected to an input connection that is directly electrically connected to an input connection line, the input connection line insulated from the electrode layers by an insulating layer, the insulating layer located parallel to, and adjacent to the electrode layers;
the adjacent ring electrode is electrically connected to the input connection through the resistive bridge and the at least one ring electrode;
the plurality of ring electrodes comprises a plurality of intermediate ring electrodes located between an innermost ring electrode and an outermost ring electrode;
each of a sub-plurality of intermediate ring electrodes of the plurality of intermediate ring electrodes is connected to a corresponding input connection, each corresponding input connection directly electrically connected to a corresponding input connection line, each corresponding input connection line insulated from the at least two electrode rings by the insulating layer;
each ring electrode from the plurality of ring electrodes defines a corresponding continuous ring; and
an electro-active liquid crystal material layer is present between the at least two substantially transparent substrates.

2. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the lens device is tunable from a first optical power to a second optical power when a first voltage is applied to the ring electrode through the input connection.

3. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the resistive bridge comprises a resistance path comprising an electrically conductive material having a resistance; and the conductive material connects the adjacent ring electrode to the at least one ring electrode.

4. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 3 , wherein:
the conductive material of the resistive bridge has a resistance of about 100 to about 2,000 ohms; and
the conductive material is bordered by a non-conductive material or an area free from conductive material.

5. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 4 , wherein:
the resistance of the conductive material of the resistive bridge is from about 800 to about 1,200 ohms.

6. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 3 , wherein:
the electrode layer comprises one or more of indium oxide, tin oxide, and indium tin oxide;
the thickness of each of the electrodes layers is, independently, about 100 to about 2,000 angstroms;
the resistivity of the electrode layer is from about 10 to about 1,000 ohms/sq; and
the conductive material of the resistive bridge comprises one or more of the indium oxide, tin oxide, and indium tin oxide.

7. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 1 , wherein:
an alignment layer is present on each electrode layer; and
the substrates are maintained at a distance of about 5 to about 100 microns.

8. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the substrates comprise a non-birefringent material, an aligned material, or a compensated material, or a combination thereof.

9. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 3 , wherein:
the patterned electrode layer comprises a plurality of sets of ring electrodes, each set comprising a corresponding plurality of ring electrodes.

10. The tunable electro-optic lens device according to claim 9 , wherein:
a dedicated input connection is provided for each set; and
a resistive bridge is provided between each adjacent pair of ring electrodes in each set.

11. A process for preparing a tunable electro-optic lens device, comprising:
providing a substantially transparent substrate;
forming at least two conductive electrode rings on the substrate; and
forming a resistive bridge located between and electrically connecting the electrode rings, wherein:
the resistive bridge electrically bridges a substantially annular insulating gap that is substantially co-planar with the resistive bridge, the resistive bridge comprising a resistive path across the insulating gap, the resistive path comprising an electrically conductive material bordered by a non-conductive material or an area free from conductive material;
each of the at least two conductive electrode rings defines a corresponding continuous ring;
a first electrode ring of the at least two conductive electrode rings is electrically connected to an input connection that is directly electrically connected to an input connection line, the input connection line insulated from the at least two electrode rings by an insulating layer, the insulating layer located parallel to, and adjacent to the at least two electrode rings;
a second ring electrode of the at least two conductive electrode rings is electrically connected to the input connection through the resistive bridge and the first electrode ring;
the at least two conductive electrode rings are comprised by a plurality of intermediate electrodes located between an innermost electrode and an outermost electrode; and
each of a sub-plurality of intermediate electrodes of the plurality of intermediate electrodes is connected to a corresponding input connection, each corresponding input connection directly electrically connected to a corresponding input connection line, each corresponding input connection line insulated from the at least two electrode rings by, the insulating layer.

12. The process according to claim 11 , wherein:
the electrode rings and resistive bridge are formed utilizing photolithography.

13. The process according to claim 11 , wherein:
forming the resistive bridge comprises providing a resistive path comprising an electrically conductive material bordered by a non-conductive material or an area free from conductive material that creates a resistance between the electrode rings.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein:
the conductive material of the resistive bridge has a resistance of from about 100 to about 2,000 ohms.

15. A tunable electro-optic lens device, comprising:
a first substantially transparent substrate having a first substantially transparent conductive electrode layer operatively connected thereto, the first electrode layer being patterned and having a plurality of ring electrodes, first electrode layer electrically connected to an input connection that is directly electrically connected to an input connection line, the input connection line insulated from the first electrode rings by an insulating layer, the insulating layer located parallel to, and adjacent to the first electrode layer;
a second substantially transparent substrate having a second substantially transparent conductive electrode layer operatively connected thereto, the s

Assignees

• Bos Philip
• Bryant Douglas
• Shi Lei
• Wall Bentley
• Univ Kent State Ohio

Inventors

• Bos Philip
• Bryant Douglas
• Shi Lei
• Wall Bentley

Classifications

• G02F1/134309 Primary

  characterised by their geometrical arrangement · CPC title

• G02F2001/294

  Physics · mapped topic

• G02F1/29

  for the control of the position or the direction of light beams, i.e. deflection · CPC title

• G02F1/1345

  Conductors connecting electrodes to cell terminals · CPC title

• G02B3/14

  of variable focal length · CPC title