太赫兹液晶材料与器件研究进展

液晶是一种性能优异的可调控光电功能材料,基于液晶的太赫兹器件有着广泛的应用前景,但高性能太赫兹功能器件的研发仍处于初级阶段.本文综述了太赫兹领域液晶材料与器件的研究现状,探讨了液晶技术与太赫兹技术相结合的发展趋势.     

胆甾相和蓝相液晶的透射和反射特性

针对蓝相液晶显示器中的暗态漏光特性, 采用时域有限差分方法模拟计算了胆甾相液晶的平面态和焦锥态以及蓝相II态液晶的透射和反射特性, 得到了它们在正交和平行偏振片之间的漏光, 并提出了计算等效旋光能力的公式以比较它们的旋光能力. 通过对比焦锥态和蓝相液晶的旋光能力和漏光特性发现, 采用焦锥态替代蓝相液晶而得到良好的暗态特性是一种可行的方法. 通过研究它们的布拉格反射特性, 得知蓝相液晶的布拉格反射与平面态相似, 但反射强度小, 焦锥态无明显的布拉格反射特性.     

High-efficiency and fast-response tunable phase grating using a blue phase liquid crystal

We demonstrate a tunable phase grating using a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal. Because of the electric-field-induced rectangularlike phase profile, a high diffraction efficiency of 40% is achieved. Moreover, this device shows submillisecond response time. The proposed tunable phase grating holds great potential for photonics and display applications.     

Electrically tunable holographic polymer templated blue phase liquid crystal grating

In this paper,we demonstrate an alternative approach to fabricating an electrically tunable holographic polymer templated blue phase liquid crystal grating.This grating is obtained by preforming a polymer template comprised of periodic fringes,and then refilling it with a blue phase liquid crystal.Compared with conventional holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal gratings,our grating can remarkably reduce its switching voltage from 200 V to 43 V while maintaining a sub-millisecond response time.The holographic polymer templated blue phase liquid crystal(HPTBPLC) grating is free from electrode patterning,thus leading to a lower cost and more flexible applications.     

Polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal display with slanted wall-shaped electrodes

A polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal display (BPLCD) with slanted wall-shaped electrodes is proposed. Compared with the traditional BPLCD with wall-shaped electrodes, the electrodes of the proposed BPLCD are slightly angled to obtain phase retardation in the entire cell even at the position of electrodes. The proposed BPLCD demonstrates a relatively higher average transmittance and overall brightness than the traditional BPLCD.     

蓝相液晶指向有序的定域化及微结构制备

蓝相液晶晶格指向有序性的体系构建对先进光子学应用乃至软物质三维可控生长具有重要的科学与技术意义.对指向有序性的蓝相液晶进行定域化的高分子稳定,进而形成蓝相区域的微结构图案化,有望实现全新的光子调控器件.本文使用稳定性好、操作简易、普遍的摩擦取向方法,达到蓝相晶格指向一致化目的,同时结合掩膜曝光的手段进行区域可控的光聚合,即定域光聚合,达到对蓝相晶格的定域化高分子稳定,实现了晶格指向有序、稳定性强的蓝相区域微结构图案化分布.最后基于这样的特殊结构,研究了潜在的光子学等方面的应用.     

Improvement of the blue phase stability in chiral nematic liquid crystal mixtures

ABSTRACT

The method of widening of the blue phase (BP) temperature range is presented. By means of polarising optical microscopy, we demonstrate that the temperature regime in which BP is stable is greatly enhanced by the cell thickness changes in mixtures of nematic liquid crystal (LC) and chiral dopant.     

Bistable defect structures in blue phase devices

Blue phases are liquid crystals made up by networks of defects, or disclination lines. While existing phase diagrams show a striking variety of competing metastable topologies for these networks, very little is known as to how to kinetically reach a target structure, or how to switch from one to the other, which is of paramount importance for devices. We theoretically identify two confined blue phase I systems in which by applying an appropriate series of electric field it is possible to select one of two bistable defect patterns. Our results may be used to realize new generation and fast switching energy-saving bistable devices in ultrathin surface treated blue phase I wafers.     

Optical simulation of in-plane-switching blue phase liquid crystal display using the finite-difference time-domain method

The finite-difference time-domain method is used to simulate the optical characteristics of an in-plane switching blue phase liquid crystal display.Compared with the matrix optic methods and the refractive method,the finite-difference timedomain method,which is used to directly solve Maxwell's equations,can consider the lateral variation of the refractive index and obtain an accurate convergence effect.The simulation results show that e-rays and o-rays bend in different directions when the in-plane switching blue phase liquid crystal display is driven by the operating voltage.The finitedifference time-domain method should be used when the distribution of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal display has a large lateral change.     

Integrating liquid crystal based optical devices in photonic crystal fibers

Liquid crystal photonic bandgap fibers form a versatile and robust platform for designing optical fiber devices, which are highly tunable and exhibit novel optical properties for manipulation of guided light. We present fiber devices for spectral filtering and polarization control/analysis.     

Cascading of liquid crystal elastomer photomechanical optical devices

Photomechanical actuation is demonstrated in two coupled liquid crystal elastomer photomechanical optical devices (PODs) acting in series. The response function of an individual POD is characterized and used to predict the temporal response of the coupled system. The predicted coupled-system response agrees with the experiment for several waveforms and frequencies, suggesting that large-scale integration of photomechanical devices is possible.     

Polarization-independent and high-diffraction-efficiency Fresnel lenses based on blue phase liquid crystals

A polarization-independent and high-diffraction-efficiency Fresnel lens is developed based on blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs). The optically isotropic characteristic of BPLCs is used to produce a polarization-independent Fresnel lens. The small optical phase shift of BPLCs that is induced by the Kerr effect is sufficient for the BPLC Fresnel lens to have high theoretical and experimental diffraction efficiencies of 41% and ～34%, respectively. An electrically erasable memory effect in the focusing diffraction at an electric field E>4.44?V/μm is observed. The electro-optical properties of the BPLC Fresnel lens are analyzed and discussed.     

全息聚合物弥散液晶器件电光特性的研究

研究了全息聚合物弥散液晶(HPDLC)器件的电光特性，研究了添加不同表面活性剂对聚合物界面对液晶的锚定能的影响机理，寻求到了低工作电压的实现方法. 分析了聚合物基体与液晶折射率不匹配性对器件对比度的影响，测量了HPDLC器件的响应时间和弛豫时间，得到了平均100μs的快速响应. 关键词： 全息聚合物弥散液晶 电光特性 表面活性剂 对比度 响应时间     

液晶中一种稳定的相态:蓝相

文章描述了胆甾相液晶中蓝相的研究现况．蓝相(BP)是液晶中具有特殊性质的一个相态，它的序参量表现出三维空间周期性．蓝相是出现在一个狭小的温度间隔里(量级为0．1—1K)的稳定相态．文章对已观察到的BPⅠ，BPⅡ，BPⅢ(“雾”相)的性质做了简要的叙述．对研究液晶蓝相的主要理论——Ginzburg-Landau理论(唯象理论)作了介绍，并指出了蓝相研究的实际物理意义。     

Structure of blue phase III of cholesteric liquid crystals

We report large scale simulations of the blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals. Our results suggest a structure for blue phase III, the blue fog, which has been the subject of a long debate in liquid crystal physics. We propose that blue phase III is an amorphous network of disclination lines, which is thermodynamically and kinetically stabilized over crystalline blue phases at intermediate chiralities. This amorphous network becomes ordered under an applied electric field, as seen in experiments.     

向列相液晶中光学相位共轭技术的研究进展

对向列相液晶中光学相位共轭技术的研究进展进行了介绍,分析总结了向列相液晶中光学相位共轭过程的机理与实验方法,并对向列相液晶中的光学相位共轭技术的应用前景进行了展望。     

Thermally switchable flexible liquid crystal devices in prepolymer-doped cholesteric liquid crystals

This work describes an approach for fabricating thermally switchable flexible liquid crystal devices in prepolymer-doped cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs). The roughness of the UV-cured polymer film eliminates the stability of planar CLCs, allowing the textures in the UV-cured regions to be changed from planar to focal conic. Impurities associated with doping with prepolymers cause the clearing temperature of LCs in the UV-cured regions to differ from that in the uncured regions as the prepolymers are polymerized. Therefore, the textures in these two regions can be switched by controlling the temperature. Thermally switchable flexible LC devices, such as optically addressed smart cards, light valves, and others, can be realized using this approach.     

Recording of geometric phase elements based on liquid crystal polymers

A technique is developed for recording the centrally-symmetric liquid crystal phase plates with the anisotropic orientation of molecules providing a smooth change of the optical axis in a thin film of liquid crystal polymer. The technique enables one to record the elements with the cylindrically-symmetric and planar-symmetric distributions. Such structures can be used to develop the optical elements with the new functional possibilities. Using the developed techniques, the polarization-sensitive Fresnel lens is realized which is functioning either as a collecting or as a scattering lens for the light beams with the orthogonal circular polarizations.     

Optical properties of metamaterial-based devices modulated by a liquid crystal

Due to the fact that it is possible to manipulate light with photonic crystals (PCs), PCs hold a great potential for designing new optical devices. There has been an increase in research on tuning the optical properties of PCs to design devices. We presented a numerical study of optical properties of metamaterial-based devices by liquid crystal infiltration. The plane wave expansion method and finite-difference time-domain method for both TE and TM modes revealed optical properties in photonic crystal structures in an air background for a square lattice. E7 type has been used as a nematic liquid crystal and SrTiO₃ as a ferroelectric material. We showed the possibility of the metamaterials for a two-dimensional photonic crystal cavity on a ferroelectric base infiltrated with a nematic liquid crystal.