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

摘要

A liquid crystal dimmer includes: a liquid crystal dimming device adjusting a transmitted light amount of incident picked-up image light; a driving section supplying a drive voltage for driving the liquid crystal dimming device to the liquid crystal dimming device; and a control section controlling the drive voltage to control a dimmed state of the liquid crystal dimming device. The control section controls the drive voltage to allow plural-stage shifting of a tilt angle of a liquid crystal molecule in the liquid crystal dimming device when the liquid crystal dimming device 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.