Wide-angle beam propagation method for liquid-crystal device calculations

A wide-angle beam propagation method suitable for analyzing anisotropic dev ices involving liquid crystals is presented. The mathematical formulation i s based on a system of coupled differential equations involving an electric and a magnetic held component. The contribution of all dielectric tensor e lements is included. A numerical implementation based on finite differences is used. Numerical examples are focused on light-wave propagation within t wisted nematic pixels found in microdisplays, with all effects arising at p ixel edges that are incorporated. A comparison between the results obtained and the prediction of finite-difference time-domain simulations is conduct ed, showing satisfactory agreement. The required computational effort is fo und to be minimal. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes: 160.371 0, 260.1180, 350.5500, 000.4430.