Liquid crystal lens prepared utilizing patterned molecular orientations on cell walls

A liquid crystal (LC) lens prepared using patterned molecular orientations on cell walls is proposed. On each wall, the LC directors in a circular area are aligned to be parallel, while those outside the area are perpendicular, to the wall. A spatially varying director orientation and a lenslike distribution of refractive index may appear in the LC layer. The LC cell then becomes an optical lens even in the absence of any applied voltages. The focal length of the lens is electrically tunable. The size of the lens prepared in this way can become very small.