Predictive management of polarized light in liquid crystal devices based on average and flicker molecular tilt

We incorporate the prediction of flicker to a semiphysical and analytical model describing the angular and wavelength dependencies of retardance in parallel aligned liquid crystal (PA-LC) devices. This makes the model unique due to the wide range of calculation it offers while keeping its simplicity. Prediction of the modulation of retardance and its associated flicker relies on the fitting of the equivalent tilt angle of the molecules as a function of applied voltage. Specific results are given for liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) microdisplays, central to many spatial light modulation applications such as the generation of structured polarized beams. Experimental characterization results at arbitrary angles and wavelengths prove the predictive capability of the model. To highlight the richness of situations with PA-LCoS devices, we provide results for two different digital addressing sequences producing different levels of flicker. We focus on the application of the PA-LCoS as a polarization state generator (PSG) and we emphasize the ability of our approach to evaluate the performance across the visible spectrum and for a wide range of incidence angles. Our approach offers novel capabilities in the generation of arbitrary states of polarization, both fully and partially polarized.Work funded by Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain), projects FIS2017-82919-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE) and FIS2015-66570-P (MINECO/FEDER)); by Generalitat Valenciana (Spain), project PROMETEO II/2015/015 and GV/2019/021; and Universidad de Alicante (Spain), project GRE17-06