Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of Tunable Cat's Eye Retroreflector Arrays as Optical Identification Tags

摘要

This study has developed an independently-addressed tunable cat's eye retroreflector array for an optical identification system. Switchable cat's eye retroreflectors are achieved by incorporating polymer dispersed liquid crystal film and indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes into the cat's eye structure. Experiments show that the gap between the front and back units of the cat's eye retroreflector plays a role in the optical performance of the device. The second-generation device is used to realize the optical ID tag. By controlling the ON–OFF state of each pixel, the tunable optical device can generate a dynamic image which carries temporal and spatial codes for the purpose of identification. The ID tag (cat's eye retroreflector array) can operate at two orientations.