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A polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (BPLC) composite with a large Kerr constant (K∼13.7 nm/V2) is developed and its electro-optic properties characterized. In addition to the reduced operating voltage, this BPLC also exhibits a fast response time (∼1 ms), high contrast ratio (>1000:1), and relatively small hysteresis (<6%). It will undoubtedly accelerate the emergence of BPLC for next-generation display and photonic devices.

We demonstrate a tunable phase grating using a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal. Because of the electric-field-induced rectangularlike phase profile, a high diffraction efficiency of 40% is achieved. Moreover, this device shows submillisecond response time. The proposed tunable phase grating holds great potential for photonics and display applications.

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A low-voltage (< 10 V), high-transmittance (> 80%), submillisecond-response, and hysteresis-free polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystal (BPLC) device with vertical field switching (VFS) and oblique incident light are demonstrated experimentally. Unlike the commonly employed in-plane switching in which the electric field is primarily in lateral direction and not uniform spatially, the VFS mode has uniform longitudinal field. As a result, the operating voltage is reduced by ∼ 3.2 × which in turn helps to eliminate hysteresis. The VFS mode is a promising candidate for the emerging BPLC display and photonic devices.