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

A wide-angle beam propagation method suitable for analyzing anisotropic devices involving liquid crystals is presented. The mathematical formulation is based on a system of coupled differential equations involving an electric and a magnetic field component. The contribution of all dielectric tensor elements is included. A numerical implementation based on finite differences is used. Numerical examples are focused on light-wave propagation within twisted nematic pixels found in microdisplays, with all effects arising at pixel edges that are incorporated. A comparison between the results obtained and the prediction of finite-difference time-domain simulations is conducted, showing satisfactory agreement. The required computational effort is found to be minimal. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America. OCIS codes: 160.3710, 260.1180, 350.5500, 000.4430.