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In this paper, we demonstrate a large-area optical switch using surface-expandable liquid droplets. These droplets are isolated by polymeric grids. The surrounding of the liquid droplets is filled with another immiscible liquid in order to suppress the gravitational effect. To obtain an optical switch, the droplets are doped with dye. In the voltage-off state, the droplets have minimal surface area-to-volume ratio. As a result, the aperture ratio (AR) is maximal. By applying a voltage, the generated dielectric force can expand the surface of the droplets, leading the AR to decrease. At V = 60\ Vrms, the AR reduces to zero. The optical switch is polarization insensitive. By further optimizing the device structure, this optical switch has promising applications in light shutters, switchable windows, and displays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) lenticular microlens array with no surface treatment is prepared. Before polymerization, the LC and diacrylate monomers are reoriented with gradient refractive index distribution by a fringing field. After polymerization, the oriented LC is stabilized by the polymer network. The prepared PNLC lenticular microlens array is optically anisotropic. Without surface treatment, the device fabrication is simplified, and it can present almost the same optical performance as the PNLC lenticular microlens with surface treatment. Integrating with a 90^\circ twisted-nematic LC cell, the PNLC lenticular microlens array can be switched between a focusing state and non-focusing state. Such a PNLC lenticular microlens array has potential application in switchable 2D/3D displays. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We demonstrated a large-area optical switch using surfaceexpandable liquid droplets. The droplets are isolated by polymeric grids. The size of each pixel is 0.5 × 1 mm, and the average diameter of the droplets is ∼0.33 mm. The droplets are highly contracted in null voltage state, so the largest aperture ratio is ∼72%. By applying an external voltage, the generated dielectric force can spread the surface of the droplets. Impacted by a 60-Vrms voltage pulse, the aperture ratio can reach zero. The contrast ratio and the response time are ∼29:1 and ∼680 ms, respectively. Since the optical switch is polarization insensitive, our device has potential applications in displays, light shutters, and switchable windows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated a liquid crystal (LC) microlens array by assembling the phase separation morphology of liquid crystal (LC) and liquid monomer using a fringing field. The prepared lenticular microlenses can present a switchable focus with good optical characteristics. Our lenticular microlens array has promising applications in imaging processing and switchable 2D/3D displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]