Liquid crystal optical device and liquid crystal optical printer using the same.

摘要

A liquid crystal optical device (16) of this invention is constituted by a pair of substrates (13), electrodes formed on the inner surfaces of the substrates (13), aligning-treated films (14) formed on the inner surfaces of the substrates (13), a liquid crystal material (15) sealed between the substrates (13), so as to form a liquid crystal layer and a pair of polarizing plates arranged outside the liquid crystal material (15). At least portions of the electrodes (13) oppose each other, in order to form optical shutters. The pair of films (14) are subjected to an aligning treatment in directions parallel to each other. The polarizing axes of the polarizing plates (12) are arranged to be perpendicular to each other. At least one polarizing axis intersects the directions of the aligning treatment at about 45 DEG . In order to obtain a high light intensity and high contrast and high-speed response, a birefringence ( DELTA nb) and a thickness (d) of a liquid crystal layer are selected so that a wavelength range exhibiting a peak value of spectral characteristics in an ON state of the liquid crystal optical element (16) coincides with a wavelength range exhibiting a peak value of a spectral distribution of incident light.