4-domain twisted liquid crystal micropolarizer array for visible linear polarization imaging

In this paper, a 4-domain twisted liquid crystal micropolarizer (twisted-LCMP) array was designed and fabricated enabling linear polarization imaging in the visible band. It contains a pixelized twisted-LC layer and a polarizer. The optimized twist angles were designed as +/- 22.5 degrees and +/- 67.5 degrees for best extinction ratio. A large birefringence LC material was used to fulfill the Mauguin condition in a wider visible band. Using a digital micromirror device (DMD) lithography system, the twisted-LCMP array was fabricated precisely using the photoalignment technique. It exhibited excellent optical performance, which could meet the requirements for polarization imaging. The measurement error for degree of linear polarization (DoLP) and angle of polarization (AoP) were less than 1.15% and 0.65 degrees. The proposed twisted-LCMP array has great potential to be integrated directly into a camera for real-time linear polarization imaging. (C) 2021 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement