A method and an apparatus of a powder bed fusion additive manufacturing system that enables a quick change in the optical beam delivery size and intensity across locations of a print surface for different powdered materials while ensuring high availability of the system. A dynamic optical assembly containing a set of lens assemblies of different magnification ratios and a mechanical assembly may change the magnification ratios as needed. The dynamic optical assembly may include a transitional and rotational position control of the optics to minimize variations of the optical beam sizes across the print surface.

Provided is an optically anisotropic layer formed of a liquid crystal compound, which includes first and second layers in direct contact along a thickness direction, an alignment state of the liquid crystal compound in the first layer is different from the second layer, and the optically anisotropic layer satisfies a relationship of Expression (2A) Xmax/Xmin<1.10 where a region within a square having a largest size that can be drawn on a surface of the optically anisotropic layer is subdivided into 64 square-shaped sub-regions having the same area, a thickness d1 of the first layer and a thickness d2 of the second layer at a center position of the sub-region are obtained, X represented by Expression (1) X=d1/(d1+d2) for each sub-region is calculated, and among the calculated 64 X's, a maximum value is defined as Xmax and a minimum value is defined as Xmin.

An additive manufacturing system including a two-dimensional energy patterning system for imaging a powder bed is disclosed. Improved structure formation, part creation and manipulation, use of multiple additive manufacturing systems, and high throughput manufacturing methods suitable for automated or semi-automated factories are also disclosed.

An optical member includes: a substrate; and a dot that is in contact with a surface of the substrate, in which the dot is formed of a liquid crystal material having a cholesteric structure, the substrate includes a liquid crystal layer that is formed on the surface in contact with the dot, and the liquid crystal layer is a layer in which orientation of a liquid crystal compound is immobilized. The optical member includes a dot in a shape having a large maximum height with respect to a diameter, the dot being formed of a liquid crystal material having a cholesteric structure in which orientation disorder is reduced. As a result, the detection sensitivity of the dot pattern in various directions including an oblique direction is high. By using the optical member according to the present invention, an image display device having a high data input sensitivity can be provided.

The present disclosure relates to a method of modifying a surface of a material, in situ, while the material is being used to at least one of form or modify a portion of a part to remove flaws layer-by-layer and improve a part from a layerwise built, or a coating. The method may involve generating first, second and third beams. The third beam may act on a surface of a material to heat a portion of the surface of the material into a flowable state to thus modify a surface characteristic of the material. The first beam may control an optically addressable light valve (OALV) which modifies an energy of the third beam. The second beam may control an optically addressable electric field modulator (OAEFM) to generate an electric field in a vicinity of the surface and to influence a movement of the portion of material while the portion of material is in the flowable state. The beams are modulated based on a sensing element feedback loop.

An active random refraction device includes a random structure having the same refractive index characteristics regardless of polarization direction of light, a liquid crystal polymer on the random structure with refractive index characteristics changing according to polarization direction of the light, a polarization switching device, and a refractive surface with an inclination angle randomly distributed along the horizontal direction perpendicular to the incident direction of the light. The active random refraction device can be switched between a transmission mode and a refractive mode according to the polarization of the light.

An active random refraction device includes a random structure having the same refractive index characteristics regardless of polarization direction of light, a liquid crystal polymer on the random structure with refractive index characteristics changing according to polarization direction of the light, a polarization switching device, and a refractive surface with an inclination angle randomly distributed along the horizontal direction perpendicular to the incident direction of the light. The active random refraction device can be switched between a transmission mode and a refractive mode according to the polarization of the light.

An apparatus and a method for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing involve a multiple-chamber design achieving a high efficiency and throughput. The multiple-chamber design features concurrent printing of one or more print jobs inside one or more build chambers, side removals of printed objects from build chambers allowing quick exchanges of powdered materials, and capabilities of elevated process temperature controls of build chambers and post processing heat treatments of printed objects. The multiple-chamber design also includes a height-adjustable optical assembly in combination with a fixed build platform method suitable for large and heavy printed objects. A side removal mechanism of the build chambers of the apparatus improves handling and efficiency for printing large and heavy objects. Use of a wide range of sensors in the apparatus and by the method allows various feedback to improve quality, manufacturing throughput, and energy efficiency.

The disclosure provides a flexible substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, and a flexible display device. The flexible substrate includes a cell and a plurality of liquid crystal molecules disposed in the cell. The cell includes a plurality of sub-pixel display areas arranged in an array and a non-display area disposed outside the sub-pixel display areas. The liquid crystal molecules are disposed in each of the sub-pixel display areas and the non-display area, extending directions of the liquid crystal molecules in each of the sub-pixel display areas are perpendicular to a plane on which the flexible substrate is disposed, and extending directions of the liquid crystal molecules in the non-display area are parallel to the plane on which the flexible substrate is disposed. Risk of damage to electrically driven devices in the flexible display device having the flexible substrate can be reduced. As a result, reliability of products is improved.

A high laser damage threshold reflective optically addressed liquid crystal spatial light modulator for shaping 1053 nm linearly polarized light beams, comprising a computer-controlled LCoS electrical addressable spatial light modulator, polarization beam splitter, and polarizer, Liquid crystal cell, analyzer, AC power supply, where the liquid crystal cell comprises a transparent conductive film antireflection film layer, a transparent conductive film base layer, a first transparent conductive layer, a liquid crystal alignment layer, a liquid crystal layer, an alignment element, a reflective film layer, a light guide layer, and a second transparent conductive layer. By changing the transparent conductive layer material of the light-transmitting part of the liquid crystal cell from ITO to gallium nitride material, the damage threshold of the high-energy laser is improved, which facilitates application of beam shaping in high-power laser devices.