An experimental study of optical anisotropy of blue-phase liquid crystals as a function of alignment layers

Abstract

The growing requirements for ultrafast communication speeds are constantly pushing the need to explore new devices and materials to reduce bottlenecks in optical communication networks. One such device is a phase only spatial light modulator implemented using liquid crystal on silicon. Achieving this requires polarization independent and fast-switching optical materials. Blue-phase liquid crystal is one such candidate. Popular opinion is that blue-phase liquid crystal is polarization-independent. In this study using microscopic and polarimetric methods, we demonstrate that in the off-state of blue-phase, the alignment layers affect the optical polarization behavior.