Phototunable reflection notches of cholesteric liquid crystals
- Beam Engineering for Advanced Measurements Co., Winter Park, Florida (United States)
- Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433-7707 (United States)
The reflection notch of cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) formed from highly photosenstive azobenzene nematic liquid crystals doped with light-insensitive, large helical twisting power chiral dopants is shown to be widely phototunable by green laser beams. The nonlinear transmission properties of these materials were studied. We have shown that the relative shift in Bragg wavelength is independent of the chiral dopant concentration and develop a predictive theory of such behavior. The theory describes the dynamics of phototuning as well. Reflection shifts greater than 150 nm were driven with low power, cw of 532 nm in these photosensitive CLCs, previously attainable only through UV pre-exposure. A nonlinear feedback mechanism was demonstrated for CLCs of left, right, and both handedness upon laser-induced blueshifting of the reflection notch from a red wavelength using a green cw laser.
- OSTI ID:
- 21182615
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 104, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2977666; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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