In the past several years, much attention has been given to the overall problems of acquisition and tracking for free space optical communications. Accomplishing these functions with minimal investment in hardware size, weight and power is essential to the successful evolution of this type of communication hardware. This paper describes electro-optical beam switching and beam steering devices that are based on the application of ferroelectric chiral smectic C liquid crystal materials. These devices are intended to provide an alternative to the use of electromechanical hardware for beam control, fine tracking and point ahead in optical communications termi-nals. Work to date indicates that small device size, high bandwidth and low drive power can all be achieved.

Date Published: 2 June 1989
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 1059, Space Sensing, Communications, and Networking, (2 June 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.951706

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1059:
Space Sensing, Communications, and Networking
Monte Ross; Richard J. Temkin, Editor(s)