An electrically tunable and polarizer-free photonic device is developed using a one-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) infiltrated with dual-frequency cholesteric liquid crystal (DFCLC) as a defect layer. The PC/DFCLC hybrid cell allows the employment of various frequency-modulated voltage pulses to regulate defect modes and switch between stable states. This device possesses many alluring features such as rapid bistable switching, intensity tunability, and wavelength tunability in the defect modes, and it requires no polarizers. It can be used as a filter, fast-speed shutter, or light-intensity modulator.

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Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is the most common aetiology of bladder outlet obstruction and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men. While medical treatment is considered as the first-line treatment for male LUTS secondary to BPH, a substantial portion of men would require surgical intervention because of insufficient relief of LUTS with medications or having any absolute indication for surgery, such as recurrent or refractory urinary retention, recurrent urinary tract infections, bladder stones or diverticula, or dilatation of the upper urinary tract due to BPH, with or without renal insufficiency (Foster et al., 2019; Oelke et al., 2013). By removing the hyperplastic prostate tissue, the surgery can restore normal urine flow, relieve the LUTS, and avoid bladder dysfunction and damages to the upper urinary tract. Transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) and open prostatectomy (OP) have been traditionally considered as the gold standard of the surgical management for BPH (Foster et al., 2019; Oelke et al., 2013). TURP is currently the most common surgical modality for BPH with a medium to large prostate. It is generally effective in relieving the outlet obstruction. However, in TURP the prostate is resected in a piece-by-piece fashion, and bleeding may arise from any cutting. This usually requires repeated coagulation and is time-consuming. These facts significantly limit the efficiency of TURP and therefore usually prohibits a complete resection, especially in cases with a huge prostate. On the other hand, OP can simply achieve complete removal