Modelling and characterization of ferroelectric liquid crystal displays

Modelling of liquid crystal displays is useful to predict their optical properties and dynamic behaviour. An integrated modelling system for ferroelectric liquid crystal displays has been developed. The system employs data from real FLC materials, polarizers, glasses, backlights, and colour filters, aiming to describe actual devices accurately. Optical transmission dependence on light wavelength and angle of incidence is obtained as a function of the liquid crystal director profile. This profile is in turn derived from energy minimization of bulk and glass surface conditioning contributions.The above static model has been extended to study sample switching in multiplexed displays. Usual slot times in actual displays are quite close to time response of FLC materials, hence no energy-minimized configurations are obtained upon switching. A dynamic model has been formulated to derive the director profile evolution with time, according to the employed driving scheme, and the rotational viscosity of the material.Predicted dynamic and optical results have been compared to experimental measurements on FLC test cells. It has been found that the behaviour of FLC cells depends on a large number of physical and optical parameters. Some of them may be obtained from FLC data sheets, and manufacturing conditions. Other parameters related to director profiles in relaxed states may be experimentally obtained by sample characterization through optical transmission measurements. A few little known parameters (e.g. specific elastic constants) remain; fortunately their influence on cell dynamics is low.     

Observation of memory behaviour in cadmium sulphide nanorods doped ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture

In this study, cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanorods doped ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) sample cells have been prepared and studied. A memory effect has been observed in CdS nanorods (≤0.3?wt%) doped FLC mixture and confirmed by textures, dielectric and optical studies. The addition of nanorods increases the memory behaviour and efficiency. The occurrence of memory behaviour has been explained due to charge transfer from liquid crystal molecules to CdS nanorods and exists there for 5–15?min in 0.1–0.3?wt% CdS nanorods doped samples. An improvement in polarization, switching time, threshold voltage and rise time parameters has also been noticed in CdS nanorods doped FLC samples.     

Changes in material parameters for dye-doped ferroelectric liquid crystal

Addition of the dichroic anthraquinone dye molecules in pure ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) matrix results in many improvement in the various vital parameters of the pure FLC. However, addition of anthraquinone dye molecules in pure FLC matrix is not advantageous every time. There are certain constraints which are crucial for the application of these systems into many devices. In this article, we have discussed the concentration and temperature dependence of vital properties of dye-doped FLC. In this study there is improvement in contrast ratio by dye doping due to enhancement in plane switching for dye-doped FLC.     

Transient ordered domains in single-component phospholipid bilayers

We report evidence of dense, ordered nanodomains in single-component fluid lipid bilayers. Our atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations suggest that the area available to a lipid acyl chain exhibits large fluctuations, resulting in denser and sparser domains. The sizes of the dense domains can be up to approximately 10 nm, and their lifetimes are of the order of approximately 10 ns. In addition, our simulations suggest that domains of lipids with highly ordered acyl chains form predominantly within the dense regions, their sizes ranging from a few chains up to a few nanometers, and with lifetimes between approximately 10 ps-10 ns. These observations shed light on the origin of experimentally observed fluctuations, as well as on the mechanisms of phase transitions in lipid membranes.     

Suppression of relaxation modes in dye dispersed SmC* phase

We report the results of dielectric and electro-optical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC), Felix 17/100, exhibiting chiral smectic C phase and dye dispersed FLCs. The polarization measurement on pristine and dye dispersed FLC mixture shows decrease in the value of polarization, indicating the distribution of dye dipole in a direction opposite to the orientation of FLC molecule. The rotational viscosity also decreases accordingly as shown by the measurement of response time. Dielectric measurement shows existence of two relaxation modes both in pure FLC and dye dispersed FLC. The relaxation strength of Goldstone mode decreases with the dispersion of dye and the relaxation frequency of this mode shifts towards the high-frequency side. The second relaxation mode arises due to the formation of domains at the surface interface. The dispersion of dye into FLC suppresses the domains.     

Static and dynamic electro-optic properties of a SmC* phase in surface stabilized geometry and dispersed in the polymer matrix

Comparative electro-optical measurements have been made on a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in surface stabilized geometry and confined to an ellipsoidal cavity within a polymer matrix. The static and dynamic electro-optical characteristics were measured for both systems and show qualitatively similar behaviours. A fast switching and important bistability were observed and characterized as a function of the applied electric field strength. The switching time between the two stable states of the surface stabilized cell was found to be longer than that found for the composite films. We argue that the faster switching dynamic of the FLC in cavities is due to the enhance of the rotational mobility of the molecules, probably (and partly) because of the soft anchoring character of the molecules at the cavity walls. Using a collective switching model in the high field regime, which assume a linear coupling between the spontaneous polarization and the local cavity electric field, we give an estimate of the rotational viscosity of the FLC molecules in the droplets.Received: 5 October 2003, Published online: 5 February 2004PACS: 61.30.Pq Microconfined liquid crystals: droplets, cylinders, randomly confined liquid crystals, polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and porous systems - 61.30.Hn Surface phenomena: alignment, anchoring, anchoring transitions, surface-induced layering, surface-induced ordering, wetting, prewetting transitions, and wetting transitions - 77.80.Fm Switching phenomena     

Switching behaviour of ferroelectric liquid crystals probed by optical second-harmonic generation

Ferroelectric properties of thin (1.5–4 μm planar cells of a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) mixture are studied using electro-optic measurements, second-harmonic generation (SHG) and SHG interferometry. A switching behaviour of the FLC cells in external dc electric fields is observed. It is characterised by rotation of the polarisation plane of the transmitted light and by changes in the SHG intensity, phase and anisotropy dependences, which are attributed to a collective motion of the system as a ferroelectric uniform state with C₂ symmetry. Received: 16 October 2001 / Revised version: 18 March 2002 / Published online: 6 June 2002     

Study of the domain structure evolution in single crystals of relaxor ferroelectric Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6:Ce1

Optical visualization with simultaneous recording of the switching current was used for studying of domain structure evolution in single crystals relaxor ferroelectric strontium barium niobate (Sr_0.61Ba_0.39Nb₂O₆) doped by cerium (0.22 mol %) (SBN61:Ce). It was shown that the maze domain structures can be observed during polarization reversal due to local change of refractive index induced by formation of microscale domains with charged domain walls. It was proposed, that optical inhomogeneities occur in the switching regions, while the optical uniform areas correspond to regions where the switching either has not started yet or has already completed. The original mathematical treatment of the obtained images and switching currents has been used for quantitative characterization of the polarization reversal process.     

半“V”字形铁电液晶器件的制备

实验研究了N*-Sc*相变时施加直流电压的强度对铁电液晶分子层排列和电光性能的影响,由此筛选了合适的直流电压强度,并研制了可实现连续灰度级的半“V”字形铁电液晶样品.实验说明N*-Sc*相变时施加直流电压强度大有利于获得性能良好的器件.采用N*-Sc*相变施加4V/μm直流电压,制备半“V”字形铁电液晶器件,经测试器件饱和电压为5V,对比度为112.8,上升时间和下降时间分别为622.14 μs和374.7 μs.     

Nonresonant and Resonant Nonlinear Absorption of CdSe-Based Nanoplatelets

We present a comprehensive understanding of the nonlinear absorption characteristics of CdSe-based nanoplatelets(NPLs) synthesized by the solution-phase method and the colloidal atomic layer deposition approach through Z-scan techniques at 532 nm with picosecond pulses. The CdSe NPLs exhibit strong two-photon induced free carrier absorption(effective three-photon absorption) upon the nonresonant excitation, resulting in a remarkable optical limiting behavior with the limiting threshold of approximately 75 GW/cm~2. A nonlinear optical switching from saturable absorption(SA) to reverse saturable absorption(RSA) with increasing the laser intensity is observed when coating CdSe NPLs with a monolayer of CdS shell to realize the resonant absorption. The SA behavior originates from the ground state bleaching and the RSA behavior is attributed to the free carrier absorption.These findings explicitly demonstrate the potential applications of CdSe-based NPLs in nonlinear optoelectronics such as optical limiting devices, optical pulse compressors and optical switching devices.     

Optical surface waves supported and controlled by thermal waves

We address the formation of optical surface waves at the very edge of semiconductor materials illuminated by modulated light beams that generate thermal waves rapidly fading in the bulk material. We find families of thresholdless surface waves existing owing to the combined action of thermally-induced refractive index modulations and instantaneous Kerr-type nonlinearity.     

Theory of switching of multiaxial ferroelectrics (Initial stage)

The classical theory of nucleation and growth is used to study the thermodynamics and kinetics of switching of multiaxial ferroelectrics. The initial stage of 180°-and 90°-domain switching is studied in the tetragonal, orthorhombic, and trigonal phases. The multidimensional kinetic theory of first-order phase transitions is applied to describe the initial stage of switching of ferroelectric crystals in the general case where three-dimensional growth (along the radius and height) of repolarized domains occurs. The energy of nucleus formation is calculated in the vicinity of the saddle point of an activation barrier in the space of sizes and shapes, and the dependence of the critical domain size on the switching field is found. The two-dimensional Fokker-Planck kinetic equation is reduced to a one-dimensional Zel’dovich equation, and a stationary solution to the Zel’dovich equation is obtained. The diffusion coefficients are derived in the size space for the normal and layer-by-layer mechanisms of domain growth. The main characteristic of the initial switching stage, namely, the steadystate flux of repolarized domains, is found as a function of the applied field.

     

Measurement of electro-optical parameters of a high contrast FLC film

We have fabricated a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) film by using a novel ferroelectric mixture. The various ferroelectric parameters such as response time, spontaneous polarization and contrast ratio of the FLC film have been measured. Experimental results show that the FLC film exhibits high contrast ratios and fast optical response. The FLC film has a possibility of the use in display applications because of the performance characteristics.     

Coupled Mach-Zehnder interferometer memory element

Two active Mach-Zehnder interferometers are integrated in a monolithic InP/InGaAsP photonic integrated circuit. Together they form a crucial component for optical signal processing: an optical memory element or set-reset flip-flop. The switching time for this initial device is approximately 200 ps. The photonic integrated circuit contains active and passive optical components, including electro-optic phase shifters.     

Distinct ferroelectric domain switching dynamics in epitaxial BiFeO3 (001) capacitors depending on the bias polarity

Understanding ferroelectric domain switching dynamics at the nanoscale is a great of importance in the viewpoints of fundamental physics and technological applications. Here, we investigated the intriguing polarity-dependent switching dynamics of ferroelectric domains in epitaxial BiFeO₃ (001) capacitors using transient switching current measurement and piezoresponse force microscopy. We observed the distinct behavior of nucleation and domain wall motion depending on the polarity of external electric bias. When applying the negative bias to the top electrode, the sideways domain wall motion initiated by only few nuclei was dominant to polarization switching. However, when applying the positive bias, most of domains started to grow from the pre-existed pinned domains and their growth velocity was much smaller. We suggest that the observed two distinct domain switching behavior is ascribed to the interfacial defect layer.     

Dynamic behaviors of ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules under an applied electric field

The dynamic changes in ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) molecular alignments under an applied electric field are examined by observing the formation of conoscopic figures with a time resolution of 0.1 ms. Close agreements between observed and simulated conoscopic figures under low voltage (30 V) were obtained. Under high voltage (120 V), however, the observed conoscopic figures became blurred between 0.8 ms and 1.1 ms after reversal of the electric field. The light scattering producing the blurriness occurred due to the development of fast transient molecular alignments during the switching transition above the applied voltage 70 V.     

All-optical switching in subwavelength metallic grating structure containing nonlinear optical materials

All-optical switching based on a subwavelength metallic grating structure containing nonlinear optical materials has been proposed and numerically investigated. Metal-dielectric composite material is used in the switching for its larger third-order nonlinear susceptibility (approximately 10(-7)esu) and ultrafast response properties. The calculated dependence of the signal light intensity on the pump light intensity shows a bistable behavior, which results in a significant switch effect. It rests on a surface plasmon's enhanced intensity-dependent change of the effective dielectric constant of Kerr nonlinear media, corresponding to a transition of the far-field transmission from a low- to high-transmission state. The study of this switching structure shows great advantages of smaller size, lower requirement of pump light intensity, and shorter switching time at approximately the picosecond level.     

Dynamic waveband grooming based on hierarchical integrated grooming auxiliary graph in multi-domain mesh optical networks

With the number of wavelengths in fibers increasing, the number of optical switching ports in conventional Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) keeps enhancing, so that waveband grooming technique is proposed to save the switching ports in OXC. Most of previous works focused on waveband grooming in single-domain optical network. Since the current optical backbone is actually divided to multiple domains according to the different network providers, it is necessary to study the waveband grooming in multi-domain optical networks. However, waveband grooming in multi-domain optical networks is more challenging than that in single domain networks because of the routing scalability and security issues. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a new heuristic Hierarchical Multi-domain Waveband Grooming (HMWG) algorithm based on Hierarchical Integrated Grooming Auxiliary Graph (H-IGAG) to reduce the total number of optical switching ports. The H-IGAG is compared of the Intra-domain Waveband Integrated Auxiliary Graph (Intra-WIAG) and the Inter-domain waveband Virtual Topology Graph (Inter-VTG). For the demand in single-domain, HMWG directly computes the route from the source node to destination node in the single-domain with waveband grooming on Intra-WIAG. For the demand spanning different domains, HMWG first computes the route from the source node to the selected border node in source domain and computes the route from the selected border node to the destination node in destination domain with waveband grooming on Intra-WIAG, respectively. Then, HMWG computes the route from the selected border node in source domain to the selected border node in destination domain with waveband grooming on Inter-VTG. Simulation results show that, compared with previous grooming algorithm, HMWG can obtain better performance.     

1550nm-VCSELs在偏振保持光反馈和正交光注入下的偏振转换特性

基于自旋反转模型,研究了1550 nm垂直腔面发射激光器(1550 nm-VCSELs)在偏振保持光反馈和正交光注入下的偏振转换特性.结果表明:正交光注入下的从激光器会随着注入强度的增加产生偏振转换.在归一化注入电流较小时,改变反馈强度,会使从激光器发生偏振转换的注入强度出现规律不同的变化;改变频率失谐,会使从激光器发生偏振转换的注入强度出现规律相同的变化.     

Performance analysis of a novel architecture for contention resolution of OPS

Optical packet switching (OPS) technology can rapidly deliver the enormous network bandwidth and offer high-speed data rate and format transparency. In this paper we propose a novel architecture using all-optical tunable wavelength converters (TWCs) and fiber delay-lines (FDLs) to address the contention problem for OPS in wavelength and time domains. This architecture improves packet switching speed but significantly decreases the number of optical switches comparing with existing architectures. A simulation is also conducted to evaluate the performance of the architecture. The simulation results show that the packet loss probability of this architecture is lower than general architectures.