Our liquid crystal shutter uses twisted nematic liquid crystals to provide a vibration-free mechanical shutter alternative. The twisted nematic liquid crystal switches between a state that rotates the input polarization by 90° with no voltage applied and a state that makes no change in the input polarization with 8 to 10 volts applied. The applied voltage is a 2 kHz AC square-wave. The shutter is supplied with integral dichroic visible polarizers to provide an average extinction ratio of better than 1,000:1. Custom shutters with larger aperture sizes and with wavelength coverage to 2.1 microns are available on a custom basis.