Optically switchable grating based on dye-doped ferroelectric liquid crystal with high efficiency

Abstract

We demonstrate an all-optically switchable ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) grating constructed in an alternating binary configuration with different optical properties from domain to domain. A dye-doped FLC is uniformly aligned in one type of domains whereas it is infiltrated into the photo-polymerized networks of reactive mesogens in the other. Compared to conventional nematic LC cases, our FLC grating allows more efficient all-optical modulation and faster diffraction switching between the 0th and the 1st orders in subsecond since the optical response associated with the dye molecules in the layered state is less hindered than in the orientationally ordered state. Our dye-doped FLC grating with periodically infiltrated structures will be useful for designing a new class of all-optically switching systems.

Lasing properties from dye-doped holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal confined in two-dimensional cylindrical geometry

“…Moreover, LC lasers have shown strong potential for various applications, such as spectroscopic light sources [1,2], active displays [3], and optical communication [4], etc. Different types of LC materials, such as nematic [2,3,[5][6][7], cholesteric [8][9][10], sematic [11,12], blue phase LC [13,14] and LC elastomer [10] have been exploited to generate tunable lasing actions. Other LC/polymer composites including polymer-dispersed LC [2,3,15,16] (PDLC), holographic polymerdispersed LC [1,17,18] (H-PDLC), and polymer-stabilized LC (PSLC) [19] have been also widely studied for tunable lasers.…”

“…Among the aforementioned material systems, H-PDLC has received particular interest due to its wide applications, such as bimolecular detectors [21], high-speed optical switch [11,22], and organic lasers [6,17]. The performance of H-PDLC can also been enhanced with nanoparticles doping [23].…”

Light-Controllable Electroconvection Patterns in a Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystal

“…The periodicity of these patterns can be in the micrometer range and comparable with the optical wavelengths. Thus, they may serve as optical gratings, and investigations on the formation of such microstructures have attracted considerable interest in the field of optics [2][3][4][5].…”

Electrically switchable Fresnel lenses in polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals

“…3) Microsecond responses have been achieved in SSFLC structures, and ultrafast switching devices based on SSFLCs have been developed for applications such as color-sequential displays, [4][5][6] optical tweezers, 7) waveguide lasers, 8) and electrically and optically switchable gratings. [9][10][11] Among the devices to which SSFLCs have been applied, fast-switching Fresnel lenses have been largely overlooked. Switchable Fresnel lenses are widely used in the processing of optical information, optical communications, and display systems.…”