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Modeling and Characterization of Dye-Doped Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Eyewear

Coutino , Pedro
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449689683

Abstract Details

2015, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Chemical Physics.
This thesis explores the use of dye-doped guest-host liquid crystals in variable transmission eyewear devices that protect against rapid and abrupt changes in lighting conditions. Some of their unique characteristics such as millisecond time response, low power consumption, fail-safe operation, and wide color palette make them the only available technology that meets the basic requirements for fast, adaptative eyewear applications. Despite these unique features, there are limitations in the technology which have hindered its use for more advanced eyewear applications. It is the aim of this dissertation to explore these limitations and provide experimental and numerical characterization tools necessary to surpass them. First, several techniques are described to evaluate materials and devices performance in terms of their photopic transmission, haze, birefringence, and distortion. The results are used to demonstrate that by choosing and combining the right materials, it is possible to improve the optical quality of the eyewear. Then, a simulation instrument which combines and integrates all the necessary elements to model the electro-optical response of dye-doped guest-host liquid crystal eyewear was constructed. This program is capable of reproducing with high accuracy experimental results, to predict the performance of devices, and to mimic the spectral curve of a target color. Numerical experiments were performed to study some of the most common limitations of the e-Tint mode or single cell technology including photopic transmission window, and polarization dependence and demonstrate that optimizing parameters such as birefringence, d/p, and concentration of dyes helps to overcome these limitations and enhance system performance. A guest-host double cell system is proposed as a new alternative mode for most advanced eyewear applications. Particular attention was placed on a switchable crossed polarizers configuration which offered superior optical characteristics such as extremely low polarization dependence and increased transmission window. Simulations showed that the same effect can be obtained for other non-zero d/p values, by proper choice of chirality and configuration. Furthermore, a unique four-color eyewear was designed by combining the absorption properties of individual cells. Finally, several state-of-the-art military and commercial dye-doped guest-host eyewear applications which make use of all the results obtained during this dissertation are presented.
Bahman Taheri, Dr. (Committee Chair)
Peter Palffy-Muhoray, Dr. (Committee Co-Chair)
Hiroshi Yokoyama, Dr. (Committee Member)
James Gleeson, Dr. (Committee Member)
Samuel Sprunt, Dr. (Committee Member)
149 p.
Materials Science; Optics; Physics
Liquid Crystals; Guest-Host; Eyewear

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Coutino , P. (2015). Modeling and Characterization of Dye-Doped Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Eyewear [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449689683

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Coutino , Pedro. Modeling and Characterization of Dye-Doped Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Eyewear . 2015. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449689683.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Coutino , Pedro. "Modeling and Characterization of Dye-Doped Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Eyewear ." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1449689683

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1449689683
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© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Modeling and Characterization of Dye-Doped Guest-Host Liquid Crystal Eyewear by Pedro Coutino is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.