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A detailed simulation of the fringing-field effect in liquid-crystal (LC)-based blazed-grating structures has been carried out. These studies are aimed at clarifying the relationship between the width of the fringing-field-broadened phase profile of the blazed grating and the LC cell thickness. This fringing-field broadening of the blazed grating's phase profile is shown to affect mostly the 2pi phase-step zone (fly-back zone) of the blazed grating. The results of the simulations carried out on the blazed-grating structure indicate two main effects of the fringing field: (1) reduction in the attainable diffraction efficiency and (2) limitation of the maximum deflection angle of the device. Both effects are shown to be directly linked to the broadening of the fly-back zone, which is shown to be proportional to the LC cell thickness.

This paper describes analyses and confirming experiments on the optimum temperature for fast response in nematic liquid crystal (LC) modulators. It is demonstrated that the LCs or LC mixtures with higher nematic-isotropic phase transition temperatures have higher optimum temperatures and greater potential for improving the figure of merit. Also discussed is the performance of the LC mixture exhibiting optimum temperature at around room temperature.

The interband optical absorption of a nonuniform semiconductor quantum dot system is calculated. The effect of dot size variation on the resolvability of the absorption peaks is estimated. The dots are assumed to be cubic, with a size distribution described by a Gaussian function. It is shown that the total absorption spectrum of such a dot system depends strongly on the dot size distribution described by the parameter ξ, the ratio of the standard deviation of the dot size to the average dot size of the system. The range of ξ values for which the absorption peaks are resolvable is given.

Optical properties of thin liquid crystal cells are found to deviate significantly from those of thick cells. Results on the liquid crystal thickness dependent phase retardation, effective birefringence, and decay time of thin E-7 cells are presented. A simple model which is based on the partially disordered surface layers is developed to explain the observed phenomena. The concept of virtually inactive surface layers is introduced.