Locally-induced permanent birefringence by polymer-stabilization of liquid crystal in cells and photonic crystal fibers

The aim of this work was to induce permanent birefringence both in typical liquid crystal cells and photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) by photo-polymerization. For this purpose three different liquid crystalline materials, namely E7, 5CB, and 6CHBT were combined with a mixture of RM257 monomer and a UV sensitive initiator with the percentage weight less than 10%. Due to the photo-polymerization process it was possible to achieve polymer-stabilized liquid crystal orientation inside LC cells and micro-sized cylindrical glass tubes. In particular, periodic change in spatial molecular orientation was achieved by selective photo-polymerization. Successful results obtained in these simple geometries allowed for the experimental procedure to be repeated in PCFs leading to locally-induced permanent birefringence in PCFs.     

Analysis of birefringence property of three different nematic liquid crystals dispersed with TiO2 nanoparticles

In the present work TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) have been dispersed into three different nematic liquid crystals (2020, 1823A and 1550C) in different concentration. The value of the birefringence (Δn) has been calculated by the transmitted intensity method at a 632.8 nm wavelength. NLC 2020 used in the present study is a high birefringent material (Δn = 0.44), NLC 1550C is a low birefringent material (Δn = 0.067) and NLC 1823A is a mid birefringent material (Δn = 0.14). An increased value of birefringence has been found after dispersion of TiO₂ NPs in all three NLCs but this increment depends upon the concentration of the dopant material, temperature range and chemical character of the mixtures. It is suggested that this LC materials can be applicable in making of phase shifters, compensators and many more photonic devices.     

A polymer photonic crystal fiber with high and flattened birefringence

A novel high birefringence polymer photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is proposed in this work. This PCF is composed of a polymer core and a cladding with elliptical air holes and squeezed triangular lattice. The high birefringence is introduced on the combined effect of elliptical air holes and the squeezed lattice. Our numerical results based on the supercell lattice method indicate that the birefringence can reach as high as 0.0018 at 650 nm wavelength with a properly designed cladding structure. We also analyze the dependence of the birefringence on structure parameters. And we design a PCF that has high and flattened birefringence.     

Applied electric field effect on light-scattering birefringence of dye-doped liquid crystal molecule and consistent neural network empirical physical formula construction for scattering intensities

In this paper, we realized two objectives. Firstly, birefringence of azo and anthraquinone dye-doped nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules was investigated by applied electric field dependent laser scattering intensities. The birefringence was essentially calculated from ordinary and extraordinary ray phase difference, which is determined from the measured intensities corresponding to parallel and perpendicular orientations of analyzer to polarizer. The birefringence was found to be dependent on both applied voltage and the kind of the doping dye. As the second objective, by nonlinear universal function approximator layered feedforward neural network (LFNN), we constructed explicit form of empirical physical formulas (EPFs) for experimentally measured dye-doped NLC nonlinear scattering intensities. Excellent LFNN test set predictions over yet-to-be measured experimental data proved that the constructed LFNN-EPFs estimated the measured intensities consistently. The correlation coefficients assessing the goodness of predictions were about r = 0.998for all cases. The LFNN-EPFs also extracted the intensity dependency on the kind of dye used. When theoretical and LFNN-EPFs intensities are compared, we conclude that given certain experimental conditions, theoretical and LFNN-EPFs predictions are in excellent agreement. In this sense, we can say that the physical laws embedded in the birefringence scattering data can be consistently extracted by LFNN. Therefore, judging from the consistent extraction of the molecular dependencies of pure and doped NLC intensities, we predict that the LFNN-EPFs can help to identify unknown molecular structural parameters in liquid crystal extracts. More concretely, by suitable mathematical operations such as differentiation, integration, minimization on these intensity LFNN-EPFs, some useful information into the charge distributions of the LC molecules can be gained.     

Experimental study of de Vries properties in antiferroelectric smectic liquid crystals

Results of the experimental study on different antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) materials are presented using a number of techniques such as the optical birefringence, electro-optics and the measurements of optical thickness of free-standing films. Despite differences in the molecular structures of the various AFLC materials studied, these are found to exhibit a de Vries type of smecticA^* (SmA ^*) properties in a temperature range higher than SmC ^* . This correlation leads to the conclusion that these two classes of liquid crystals are related to each other. Furthermore, we suggest that these arise from the same physical mechanism, namely the existence of the weak synclinic (or reduced anticlinic) correlations between the neighbouring molecular tilt directions.     

BL037: A nematic mixture with high terahertz birefringence

We investigate the properties of the nematic mixture BL037 with terahertz time domain spectroscopy. Both, the refractive indices and absorption coefficients for extraordinary and ordinary polarization are extracted from the measured data. Besides the frequency dependence of the material parameters we also study their temperature dependence and compare the results to the properties of the pure liquid crystals. We find that the mixture exhibits the largest terahertz birefringence reported so far for liquid crystals. Thus, BL037 is an ideal candidate for THz devices.     

Multiple-stage liquid crystal tuned filter

A voltage controlled multiple-stage tunable filter with broad continuous tuning range was studied in theory and experiment. Four liquid crystal retarders, two quartz plates with certain integral ratio phase retardations and five polarization films were assembled into a traditional Lyot filter. The tunable function was achieved by using the electro-birefringence effect of liquid crystal. The result of numerical simulation showed that the spectral resolution was ∼10 nm around bands of 500-700 nm; side forms rejection ratio and FWHM changed in contrast to considering and not considering the birefringence dispersion effect of liquid crystal and quartz; the shape of filtered light displayed by spectral photometer would be affected by spectrum bands of light source in spectral photometer. A four-stage tunable filter was made and tested, experiment results agreed with the numerical simulation results very well, the research results could be applied as reference for the study of broad spectrum tunable filters.     

Research on temperature characteristics of liquid crystal filter

The effect of temperature on the spectrum characteristic of the liquid crystal filter in the region of visible light was investigated theoretically and experimentally in detail. The conclusion shows that with the increasing temperature, the center wavelength of the filter will shift toward the short wavelength, and the center wavelength of the filter will shift toward long wavelength as the temperature decreases. The result of numerical simulation is in excellent agreement with the experiment result. In addition, the experiment results indicate that with the increasing temperature and reducing wavelength the transmittance of liquid crystal filter will reduce. According to the above conclusion we propose a new structure for maintaining a stable central wavelength output of the liquid crystal filter with the changing temperature, and it does not require temperature control equipment, is easy to operate, and has no need to look for special temperature coefficient birefringence, etc. This structure may find a certain application for liquid crystal filter as we believe, particularly, in the condition of different environment temperature.     

Electro-optical properties of high birefringence liquid crystal compounds with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group

Liquid crystal(LC) compound with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group is an attractive high birefringence LC material,and can be used in optical devices. In this paper, the electro-optical properties of a series of this type of LC compounds were investigated. The melting points and enthalpy values of these LC compounds were higher than those of corresponding compounds with the phenyl group. These compounds exhibited high birefringence with a maximum value of 0.66. Fluorine substitution in the molecular almost does not affect the birefringence value. When these LC compounds with the naphthyl group were dissolved in a commercial LC mixture, the electro-optical properties depending on temperature were investigated. In the low-temperature region, LC mixtures with the naphthyl-group LC compounds exhibited higher viscosity than pure commercial LCs. In the high-temperature region, viscosity values very closely approached each other. When response performance was investigated, figure-of-merit(Fo M) values were measured. The Fo M values of LC mixtures containing LC compounds with naphthyl group were lower than those of reference benzene LCs in the low-temperature region. However, in the high-temperature region, the results were reversed. These isothiocyanate LC compounds with naphthyl group can be applied in special fast-response LC device, particularly the ones used under high-temperature conditions.     

New high negative dispersion photonic crystal fiber

A new high negative dispersion photonic crystal fiber is proposed. It has double-core structure. The inner core has a circle germanium-doped region. The outer core is formed by removing the 3rd ring air-holes around the core. There are two ring air-holes between the two cores, Diameter of the 1st ring air holes is bigger than that of the 2nd ring air-holes, this can make mode coupling between inner mode and outer mode and showed that the high negative PCF is the result of this structure characteristics. There are honeycomb photonic lattice in the PCF's cladding. The influence of the structure parameters deviated from the design those on the chromatic dispersion are evaluated. When the structure parameters Λ=1.50 μm, d_core=2.10 μm, d₁=0.90 μm, d₂=0.44 μm and d₃=1.04 μm, the dispersion coefficient D is −1320 ps/(nm·km) at 1550 nm. This is a new kind of chromatic dispersion compensation PCF.     

双重复合式液晶/聚合物电调谐光栅的制备

采用一次性全息曝光的方法同时在样品上制备了周期分别为1μm和4μm,衍射效率电场可调的双重复合式液晶/聚合物光栅.使用He-Ne激光器对复合光栅的衍射特性进行了实验研究,发现光栅存在两个1级衍射极强峰.对峰值衍射效率的测定结果表明,周期1μm的光栅衍射效率为90%,周期4μm的光栅,60%.结合耦合波理论计算了周期1μm和4μm光栅的衍射效率理论值,分别为92.57%和63.68%.实验结果与理论值符合得非常好.对电光特性的测试表明该复合光栅内的两套子光栅的驱动电压V₉₀关键词： 光栅 液晶     

Electro-optical performance of polymer stabilized cholesteric texture cell: The influence of chiral dopant and monomer concentration

Reverse-mode polymer stabilized cholesteric texture (PSCT) cells with various chiral dopant and monomer concentrations were fabricated. Experimental results indicate that the chiral dopant concentration and the monomer concentration significantly influence the threshold voltage and hysteresis of the cells. The chiral dopant and monomer deform the hysteresis loop. Increasing the monomer concentration reduces the width of the hysteresis loop of the reverse-mode PSCT cell.     

Electro-optical properties of polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal film

Liquid crystals (LCs) and polymers are extensively used in various electro-optical applications.In this paper,normal mode polymer stabilized cholesteric LC film is prepared and studied.The effects of chiral dopant and monomer concentrations on the electro-optical properties,such as contrast ratio,driving voltage,hysteresis width and response time,are investigated.The reasons of electro-optical properties influenced by the concentrations of the materials are discussed.Through the proper material recipe,the electro-optical properties of polymer stabilized cholesteric LC film can be optimized.     

Energy dispersion relation for negative refraction (NR) materials

A general energy dispersion relation is developed for metamaterials having the negative-refraction (NR) property. It is shown that absorption effects are involved with NR phenomena, and the conditions under which NR occurs are discussed. Simple equations for NR are developed by using Lorentzian models.     

Birefringence dispersion in a quartz crystal retrieved from a channeled spectrum resolved by a fiber-optic spectrometer

We present a simple method for measuring the wavelength dependence of both the phase and group birefringences in a quartz crystal of known thickness. The method utilizes interference of polarized waves resolved by a fiber-optic spectrometer as a channeled spectrum (spectral fringes). The fringe order versus the precise position of the interference maximum in the spectrum is fitted to the approximate function, from which the phase birefringence as a function of wavelength is retrieved. We also determine the group birefringence dispersion. The functions measured in a range from 500 to 900 nm are compared with those resulting from the available dispersion relation, and very good agreement is confirmed.     

Analysis of high birefringence photonic crystal fiber with octagonal and squarely lattice

Aiming at the requirement of high birefringence, a new kind of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with octagonal and squarely lattice is proposed. In this structure, squarely lattices are added in the inner layer to obtain high birefringence. Birefringence and dispersion as a function of wavelength and size of PCF are analyzed by using Finite Element Method (FEM). Simulation results show that this kind of PCF exhibits high birefringence with a magnitude of 10^?3, and one zero dispersion point is obtained simultaneously. In addition, the characteristics of PCF can be tuned by changing the size of fiber.     

Electro-optical Kerr effect of azo-dye-doped liquid crystals using nulled intensity method

ABSTRACT

The electro-optical Kerr effect and pre-transition behavior have been investigated for different concentration of dimethyl-aminoazobenzene dye-doped nematic liquid crystal by using the nulled intensity method. Measurement results have showed that the molecular reorientation of liquid crystals induced by photoisomerization of azo dyes come about to increase an amount of Kerr constant at low percentages of dye concentration. Additionally, the results of pre-transition temperature which were obtained by extrapolating the invers Kerr constant as a function of temperature have been found to be in good agreement with predictions of the Landau-De Gennes model.     

新型高双折射及色散平坦光子晶体光纤研究

用平面波展开法对光子晶体光纤中电磁场的Maxwell方程组进行了求解。将光纤截面作为超元胞衍生出一个无边界的二维周期性系统，光纤纤芯等效为光子晶体中的缺陷，借助平面波法对其性质进行研究，模拟了半导体中的超格子。运用上述超格子模型，对与纤芯同列孔半径可变的高双折射及与包层中纤芯距离最近的孔半径可变的色散平坦光子晶体光纤的光学性质进行了研究，发现与纤芯同列的孔半径变化时，其双折射比传统光纤更强，而当包层中距离纤芯最近的孔半径取特定值时，可得到近零色散平坦光纤并在大范围内获得反常色散。与传统光纤和普通光子晶体光纤相比，这种新型的色散平坦光纤在密集波分复用（DWDM）光通信系统中具有更高的应用价值。     

Efficient tunable negative refraction photonic crystal achieved by an elliptic rod lattice with a nematic liquid crystal

Photonic crystals (PCs) have many potential applications because of their ability to control light-wave propagation. We have investigated the electromagnetic wave propagation inside an elliptic rod PC slab by means of finite-difference time-domain simulations. The band structure of the PC composed of elliptic rod in the square and triangular lattices is studied by solving Maxwell's equations using the plane wave expansion method. Numerical simulations show that the refractive angle can be tuned greatly by rotating the directors of elliptic rod in the PC slab. Furthermore, an optical switch based on elliptic rod PC structures with nematic liquid crystals was proposed. In the on/off switching system, the partial band gap can be controlled when the normalized operation frequency is 0.28. The modulation induced by liquid crystals created a sharp switching in the photonic devices. Such a mechanism of negative refraction PCs should open up a new application for designing components in photonic integrated circuits.