LIQUID CRYSTAL DIMMER, IMAGE PICKUP UNIT, AND METHOD OF DRIVING LIQUID CRYSTAL DIMMING ELEMENT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid crystal dimmer and a method of driving a liquid crystal dimming element that allow appropriate driving of the liquid crystal dimming element, and an image pickup unit that includes such a liquid crystal dimmer.

SOLUTION: A liquid crystal dimmer includes: a liquid crystal dimming element adjusting a transmitted light amount of incident picked-up image light; a driving section supplying a voltage for driving the liquid crystal dimming element to the liquid crystal dimming element; and a control section controlling the drive voltage to control a dimmed state of the liquid crystal dimming element. The control section controls the drive voltage to allow a tilt angle of a liquid crystal molecule in the liquid crystal dimming element to be shifted in a multiple-step manner when the liquid crystal dimming element is caused to undergo a state transition from one dimmed state to another dimmed state, the dimmed states being different from each other in the transmitted light amount.

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