A new low-voltage-driven GRIN liquid crystal lens with multiple ring electrodes in unequal widths.

This work is dedicated to design a novel liquid crystal (LC) lens device with multiple ring electrodes in unequal widths, in order to offer tunability on focusing quality and to lower the level of applied voltage. The number and widths of the multiple ring electrodes are pre-designed and optimized to offer the on-line tunability on individual electrode voltages to render a better refraction index distribution for focusing, as compared to the past hole-type LC lenses. The resulted refractive index distribution is expected to offer similar focusing effects based on the theory of the gradient refraction index (GRIN) lens. The transparent electrodes of this new LC lens are placed at the inner surface of the LC cell to minimize the driving voltages, in results, less than 10 V, for the same level of focusing power and an easy practical operation. A new fabrication process in the wafer level to bury bus lines is developed for generating smooth electrical fields over the lens aperture. In addition, a dielectric layer is coated between electrodes and the LC layer.