Patent ID: 8797499

Claim:
A liquid crystal acting as a lens or a beam steering device comprising: a pair of cell walls defining a cavity, the cavity being filled with liquid crystal molecules, at least one of the cell walls having an alignment layer including a rubbed foundation layer and an ordered surface layer that interacts with the liquid crystal molecules to cause alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in a zero field ground state in a predetermined director orientation; the ordered surface layer is formed, over said foundation layer, with liquid crystal layer molecules aligned using a programming field without mechanical rubbing, said optical device including one of: said cell walls being essentially planar and parallel, a spatially non-uniform alignment of said surface layer molecules on the surface of said ordered surface layer, and the spatially non-uniform alignment of said molecules providing for a lens or a beam steering device in a zero field ground state; said cell walls being not parallel to one another, and a spatially uniform alignment of said surface layer molecules on the non-planar surface of said ordered surface layer; and said cell walls are not parallel to one another, a spatially uniform alignment of said surface layer molecules on the surface of said ordered surface layer on said two cell walls that are planar and non-parallel, and said optical device being a beam steering device.