Perspectives of liquid crystals for adaptive optics applications

A comparative analysis of different electrical control methods of liquid crystal (LC) modulators is presented, and the dual- frequency control method is considered in detail. Theoretical evaluations of the speed and LC heating using dual-frequency control are reported. Methods to optimize the control voltage parameters are described. Next, it is shown how, using specific physical LC properties, it is possible to create a LC wavefront corrector that can be controlled modally. Modal wavefront correctors for the control of both low and high order aberrations are described. We describe some novel operating configurations of modal LC lenses. Finally, we make some brief comparisons of nematic with ferroelectric LCs for adaptive optics.

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