A cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) formed by chiral molecules represents a self-assembled one-dimensionally periodic helical structure with pitch p in the submicrometer and micrometer range. Because of the spatial periodicity of the dielectric permittivity, a CLC doped with a fluorescent dye and pumped optically is capable of mirrorless lasing. An attractive feature of a CLC laser is that the pitch p and thus the wavelength of lasing λ can be tuned, for example, by chemical composition. However, the most desired mode to tune the laser, by an electric field, has so far been elusive. Here we present the realization of an electrically tunable laser with λ spanning an extraordinarily broad range (>100 nm) of the visible spectrum. The effect is achieved by using an electric-fieldinduced oblique helicoidal (OH) state in which the molecules form an acute angle with the helicoidal axis rather than align perpendicularly to it as in a field-free CLC. The principal advantage of the electrically controlled CLC OH laser is that the electric field is applied parallel to the helical axis and thus changes the pitch but preserves the single-harmonic structure. The preserved single-harmonic structure ensures efficiency of lasing in the entire tunable range of emission. The broad tuning range of CLC OH lasers, coupled with their microscopic size and narrow line widths, may enable new applications in areas such as diagnostics, sensing, microscopy, displays, and holography.cholesteric liquid crystals | lasing | electric tunability | heliconical structure C hiral interactions in cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) result in supramolecular helical structures (1). The nematic directorn defining molecular orientation is perpendicular to the helix axis and rotates continuously along the axis, generating a regular rightangle helix with pitch p. Because the dielectric tensor is periodic in space, the CLC is a 1D photonic bandgap structure, selectively reflecting circularly polarized light of the same handedness as the helix. The reflection band edges are at wavelengths λ o = pn o and λ e = pn e , where n o and n e are, respectively, the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices of the local uniaxial structure (1).In optically pumped thin layers of CLCs doped with fluorescent dyes, selective Bragg reflection of light gives rise to mirrorless lasing at the reflection band edges. Early demonstrations of lasing from CLCs (2-6) stimulated considerable interest in these easily produced micrometer-sized laser light sources due to their potential in spectroscopic, communications, sensing, and display applications. One major appeal of CLC lasers is the tunability of the emission wavelength by controlling the pitch. This can be achieved by changing the temperature (6-8), composition or cell thickness (9-11), mechanical strain in cross-linked CLC elastomers (12-14), and using reversible photochemical reactions (15, 16). The most sought-after control is via an applied electric field, which, although possible in principle (17-23), has not yet achiev...

Production of multicharged ions and behavior of microwave modes in an electron cyclotron resonance ion source directly excited in a circular cavity resonator Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 03A336 (2006); 10.1063/1.2163330 All-metamaterial-based subwavelength cavities ( λ ∕ 60 ) for ultrathin directive antennas Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 084103 (2006); 10.1063/1.2172740Resonantly coupled surface plasmon polaritons in the grooves of very deep highly blazed zero-order metallic gratings at microwave frequencies

In this paper, we demonstrate arrays of optical patch nanoantennas can convert light polarization through reflection. By breaking the azimuthal symmetry, elliptical plasmonic patch nanoantennas exhibit both even and odd cavity modes, which can be expressed by Mathieu functions. It is shown that by properly orienting the incident polarization, a linearly polarized light in resonance with one cavity mode can be converted into an elliptical or circular polarization after reflection. Since the major cavity modes can be excited at all incident angles, the polarization conversion by these elliptical patch nanoantennas can be realized with wide range of incident angles. V

We present experimental and theoretical studies of two dimensional periodic arrays of elliptical plasmonic patch nanoantennas. Experimental and simulation results demonstrate that the azimuthal symmetry breaking of the metal patches leads to the occurrence of even and odd resonant cavity modes and the excitation geometries dependent on their modal symmetries. We show that the cavity modes can be described by the product of radial and angular Mathieu functions with excellent agreements with both simulations and experiments. The effects of the patch periodicity on the excitation of the surface plasmon and its coupling with the cavity modes are also discussed.

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