Dependence of optical properties on the device and material parameters in liquid crystal microlenses

Liquid crystal microlenses are prepared using various liquid crystals and dependence of the optical properties on device and material parameters is investigated experimentally. Numerical apertures of the liquid crystal microlenses for different combinations of the structure parameters and the material parameters are measured. The numerical aperture of the LC microlens is maximum value when the ratio of the diameter and thickness is 3 and its spot size is less than 2 mu m. Optical properties of the LC microlenses are mainly dominated by the birefringence property and dielectric anisotropy of liquid crystal materials. It is necessary to use a LC material with a large birefringence and a large dielectric anisotropy to design the LC microlens with a large numerical aperture and a low driving voltage performance.