Microphotonics

"The objective of this thesis is to investigate the electrooptical properties of a dipole suspension. A dipole suspension consists of needle-like crystals which, in the presence of an electric field, orient themselves parallel to it. If the dipoles align themselves parallel to incident light, the suspension will transmit the light. If no electric field is present, the dipoles are in a random state, and little light is transmitted. The projected area of the dipoles is smaller when they are in the aligned state. Commercially, a dipole suspension is available from Marks Polarized Corporation as the product Varad. This thesis will investigate the following properties of the dipole suspension Varad: 1) spectral characteristics 2) off-axis properties 3) rise and fall times 4) the dependence of optical density on the voltage and frequency of the electric field Statistically designed experiments were used to investigate the above factors.^ A spectrophotometer was used to investigate the spectral characteristics, with the wavelength, frequency, voltage, and angle of incident light being varied. For the time studies, a dual beam scope was used to monitor the voltage to the dipole suspension