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.

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Polarization-independent phase-only modulation of a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal ͑PDLC͒ is demonstrated. In the low voltage region, PDLC is translucent because of light scattering. Once the voltage exceeds a saturation level, PDLC is highly transparent and exhibits phase-only modulation capability. Although the remaining phase is not too large, it is still sufficient for making adaptive microdevices, such as microlens. A tunable-focus microlens for arrays using PDLC is demonstrated. This kind of microlens is scattering free, polarization independent, and has fast response time.