Thermally controlled optical shutter in an inter-molecular hydrogen bonded liquid crystal

Novel homologs series of supra-molecular liquid crystals have been isolated. Hydrogen bond is formed between mandelic acid (MD) and various homologs of p-n-alkyloxy benzoic acids (nOBA) and has been confirmed by FTIR studies. Optical polarizing microscopic observations show that all these materials exhibit rich liquid crystallinity with various mesophases. Phase transition temperatures and enthalpy values are experimentally evaluated by DSC studies and the phase diagram of homologous series has been constructed. An interesting feature is the observation of thermally controlled reversible optical shuttering action in one of the homolog, wherein with the increment of temperature the homeotropic texture changes to homogenous texture of smectic F. Thus, this optical shuttering phenomenon is reversible. Optical tilt angle data of two homologs have been fitted to power law equation and it is found that the mean field theory prediction is valid. The light intensity profile in homeotropic region of smectic F in one complex has been experimentally analyzed and a steep sudden decrement of the intensity of light manifesting the distortion of the molecular alignment is experimentally found.     

Realisation of a liquid crystal based prototype for duration measurement of picosecond pulses

Using self-diffraction technique, a prototype has been ideated and experimentally assembled for the measurement of the duration of laser pulses in the range of picoseconds. The innovative technique used is based on the presence of a dynamic diffraction grating written by the pulse on a film of liquid crystalline composite material under suitable geometrical conditions. The pulse to be measured undergoes a “self-diffraction” effect whose efficiency is related to the pulse duration. A software has been implemented both for the calculation of the pulse duration from the elaboration of experimental data and for the control of mechanical micrometric components.     

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.     

Displaying gray shades in liquid crystal displays

Quality of image in a display depends on the contrast, colour, resolution and the number of gray shades. A large number of gray shades is necessary to display images without any contour lines. These contours are due to limited number of gray shades in the display causing abrupt changes in grayness of the image, while the original image has a gradual change in brightness. Amplitude modulation has the capability to display a large number of gray shades with minimum number of time intervals [1,2]. This paper will cover the underlying principle of amplitude modulation, some variants and its extension to multi-line addressing. Other techniques for displaying gray shades in passive matrix displays are reviewed for the sake of comparison.     

Analysis of photonic crystal fibers infiltrated with nematic liquid crystal

The spectral characteristic of a nematic liquid crystal photonic crystal fiber is analyzed. The locations of the transmission minima in the transmission spectrum can be evaluated by examining the modal cutoffs of specific modes in the liquid crystal inclusion. The selection criteria for these specific modes are based on the fraction of power residing in the core. Explicit expressions for these modal cutoffs are also derived.     

Mueller-Stokes polarimetric characterization of transmissive liquid crystal spatial light modulator

In the twisted nematic liquid crystal spatial light modulators (TN-LCSLM), distortion of uniform twist and decrease in tilt angle of liquid crystal molecules on application of an electric field lead to amplitude and phase modulations of the transmitted or reflected wavefront, respectively. The amplitude and phase modulation characterization of TN-LCSLM using Jones calculi is simple and extensively used but does not give any information about important polarimetric parameters such as diattenuation and depolarizance. On the other hand, the characterization using Mueller calculi provides all information in terms of polarimetric properties such as diattenuation, retardance (birefringence) and depolarization. In this paper, polarimetric properties of the transmissive TN-LCSLM (HOLOEYE LC2002) are characterized measuring 17 different Mueller matrices at different addressed gray scale through Mueller Matrix Imaging Polarimeter (MMIP) at 530 nm wavelength. Lu-Chipman polar decomposition for Mueller matrix is utilized to separate out three independent Mueller matrices for diattenuation, depolarization and retardance as a function of addressed gray scale. Further, Mueller-Stokes combined formulation is used to examine the effect of depolarization present in the TN-LCSLM on six different states of polarization and evaluation of eigenpolarization states for the TN-LCSLM has been presented.     

Study on infrared emissivity of biomimetic motheye sapphire single crystal

As a focus of research on materials science, bionic structure has drawn a great deal of attention from researchers. In this paper, patterned antireflection microstructure used for space optical window was fabricated on the surface of sapphire single crystal based on “Biomimetic Motheye Structure”. Meanwhile, emissivity of patterned sapphire at high temperature was investigated. The results indicated that transmittance of sapphire increased with spectrum red shift effect because of surface microstructures; the emissivity of patterned sapphire increased with rising of temperature in 6∼11 μm band; microstructures on surface led the scattering and attenuation coefficient of light to increase, thus, the emissivity of patterned sapphire was greater than that of contrast specimen which was not patterned. At the end of the paper, an audacious conclusion was made that the effect of microstructure on emissivity would decrease or even disappear with the increase of temperature.     

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.     

Polarization dependent guiding in liquid crystal filled photonic crystal fibers

A theoretical study of nematic liquid crystal filled photonic crystal fibers (LCPCFs) is presented. Detailed investigations including the polarization dependent bandgap formation and the modal properties are given for LCPCFs, in which alignment of the molecules could be controlled by external static electric field. The polarization dependent bandgap splitting caused by the high index difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary dielectric index of nematic liquid crystals provides the possibility of single-mode single-polarization guiding. A polarization operation diagram is proposed to describe the guiding behavior of LCPCFs. The influence of rotation angle ? of the director of liquid crystals on the modal properties is investigated. It is shown that the polarization axis of the guided mode is determined by the rotation angle ?, which could be controlled by external electric field.     

Nonlinear TM modes in cylindrical liquid crystal waveguide

We consider a nonlinear cylindrical fiber with a nematic liquid crystal (LC) core having initially the escaped configuration and subject to the action of a normal mode propagating electromagnetic field of arbitrary intensity. We derive a set of coupled equations governing the nonlinear dynamics of the electromagnetic field and the confined LC. We solve numerically these coupled equations and find simultaneously the distorted textures of the nematic inside the cylinder and the Transverse Magnetic modes in the guide. We analyze the dependence of these solutions on the electromagnetic field intensity by assuming consistently soft boundary conditions. We have found a dramatic correlation in the spatial distribution of the nematic's configuration and the Transverse Magnetic modes. Thus, the director adopts configurations completely guided by the specific mode involved. We show that the cut-off frequencies and dispersion relations can be tuned by varying the intensity of the electromagnetic propagating field.     

Tuning of full band gap in anisotropic photonic crystal slabs using a liquid crystal

We analyze the tunability of full band gap in photonic crystal slabs created by square and triangular lattices of air holes in anisotropic tellurium background, considering that the regions above and below the slab are occupied by SiO₂ and the holes are infiltrated with liquid crystals. Using the supercell method based on plane wave expansion, we study the variation of full band gap by changing the optical axis orientation of liquid crystal. Our results demonstrate the existence and remarkable tunability of full band gap in both square and triangular lattices, largest band gap and tunability being obtained for the triangular lattice.     

Tunable photoluminescence of porous silicon by liquid crystal infiltration

The photoluminescence (PL) of porous silicon films has been investigated as a function of the amount of liquid crystal molecules that are infiltrated into the constricted geometry of the porous silicon films. A typical nematic liquid crystal 4-pentyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl was employed in our experiment as the filler to modify the PL of porous silicon. It is found that the originally red PL of porous silicon films can be tuned to blue by simply adjusting the amount of liquid crystal molecules in the microchannels of the porous films. The chromaticity coordinates are calculated for the recorded PL spectra. The mechanism of the tunable PL is discussed. Our results have demonstrated that the luminescent properties of porous silicon films can be efficiently tuned by liquid crystal infiltration.     

On the transmission by liquid crystal tapered optical fibers

A three-layer liquid crystal tapered optical fiber (LCTF) is investigated with the emphasis on the power confinements by the low order TE and TM modes sustained in the different sections of LCTF. The outermost clad section is considered to be made of liquid crystal with radial anisotropy whereas the core and the inner clad are dielectric regions. Rigorous field expressions in the different LCTF sections are deduced, and the plots of power confinement factors (or the relative distributions) are ultimately made considering different fiber dimensions. The results reveal that the TE modes confine maximum amount of power in the outermost liquid crystal region, which is attributed to the radial anisotropy of the section. Such features of LCTFs attract their usefulness in the area of field coupling devices and optical sensing where evanescent field technique is primarily implemented.     

光学CCD快门系统特性

基于国内惯性约束聚变实验精密化需求,开展了可见光CCD机械快门特性研究的分解实验,定量表征了机械快门的时间特性,不仅为物理实验参数设置提供了依据,也对信号强度不确定度的定量分析提供了基准数据。另外根据物理实验的实时控制需求,设计开发了一套机械快门状态检测系统,它能及时快速反馈快门运转情况,提高了实验的可靠性。     

Terahertz electrically controlled nematic liquid crystal lens

We report some preliminary results on the realization of terahertz (THz) nematic liquid crystal (LC) lens with electric tunable focal length. A LC cell with a single circular-hole electrode is driven by an AC voltage to yield the desired spatial distribution of the refractive index. The two-dimensional function of the phase delay introduced into THz wave depends on the AC voltage and the electrodes contacting the LC layer. This lens is operated at room temperature and its convergent optical characteristic is demonstrated at 118 μm. We realize the lens with a clear aperture of 1 mm. The lens matched with a bolometer array is capable of obtaining real-time THz images of a sample without any mechanical scanning.     

Applications of liquid crystal polymers

The science and technology of liquid crystal polymers is selectively reviewed with an emphasis on those aspects key to successful commercial utility. The importance of the low viscosity demonstrated by nematic polymers under commercial processing conditions, coupled with the low volume change on cooling and high thermal stability associated with these nematogens, is identified as the major factor behind the success of the thermotropic copolyester as a high-performance molding resin. The developing area of side-chain liquid crystal polymers as electro-optical media is discussed, stressing the importance of combining function and processibility for ultimate commercial viability. Potential markets and projected commercial growth rates are discussed from the point of view of the enabling science needed to successfully define and implement new commercial applications for liquid crystal polymers.     

Plasmonic all-optical bistable device based on nematic liquid crystal

Low-power all-optical bistable liquid crystal (LC) devices are reported in which surface plasmons propagate along a metallic grating. The threshold switching illumination was 1.4 mW/mm² in the device with the twisted-nematic LC cell. This is a lower value than for all-optical bistable devices reported previously. This low-power bistability device can be used in two-dimensional optical memories or spatial light modulators.     

Terahertz dichroism of MBBA liquid crystal on rubbed substrate

Terahertz (THz) dichroism of a nematic liquid N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p-butylaniline (MBBA) was measured using a GaP Raman THz spectrometer. MBBA on a rubbed plastic substrate generates a band at around 4.0 THz: its liquid crystal phase shows strong dichroism, which well corresponds to that of the IR absorption caused by π(CH) of MBBA molecule reported in the literature. Based on inferences drawn from the present THz and the published IR dichroic results, the 4.0 THz band probably stems from lateral intermolecular or intramolecular interactions of MBBA molecules aligned to the rubbing direction. The results clearly demonstrate that THz spectroscopy is powerful for discussing of phase transition and dichroism of liquid crystals.