Liquid cristal waveplate
Meadowlark Optics
Meadowlark Optics' standard liquid crystal products provide tunable retardation by changing the effective birefringence of the material with applied voltage, thus altering the input polarized light to any chosen elliptical, linear or circular polarization.
Our precision Liquid Crystal Variable Retarders are constructed using optically flat fused silica windows coated with transparent conductive Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). Our ITO coating is specially designed for maximum transmission from 450 - 1800 nm. A thin dielectric layer is applied over the ITO and gently rubbed, to provide for liquid crystal molecular alignment. Two windows are then precisely aligned and spaced a few microns apart. The cavity is filled with birefringentnematic liquid crystal material, electrical contacts are attached and the device is environmentally sealed. We mount the Liquid Crystal Variable Retarder in an anodized aluminum housing such that the fast and slow axes are both at 45° relative to a convenient mounting hole.
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