Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Dammann Grating by Patterned Photoalignment

Fan Fan; Lishuang Yao; Xiaoqian Wang; Liangyu Shi; Abhishek K. Srivastava; Vladimir G. Chigrinov; Hoi-Sing Kwok; Shuangchun Wen

doi:10.3390/cryst7030079

Crystals (Mar 2017)

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Dammann Grating by Patterned Photoalignment

Fan Fan,
Lishuang Yao,
Xiaoqian Wang,
Liangyu Shi,
Abhishek K. Srivastava,
Vladimir G. Chigrinov,
Hoi-Sing Kwok,
Shuangchun Wen

Affiliations

Fan Fan: Key Laboratory for Micro-/Nano-Optoelectronic Devices of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Lishuang Yao: State Key Laboratory of Applied Optics, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130033, China
Xiaoqian Wang: Physics Department, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
Liangyu Shi: Partner State Key Laboratory (PSKL) on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Abhishek K. Srivastava: Partner State Key Laboratory (PSKL) on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Vladimir G. Chigrinov: Partner State Key Laboratory (PSKL) on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Hoi-Sing Kwok: Partner State Key Laboratory (PSKL) on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics Technologies, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Shuangchun Wen: Key Laboratory for Micro-/Nano-Optoelectronic Devices of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst7030079
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7, no. 3
p. 79

Abstract

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In this article, a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) dammann grating (DG) is demonstrated based on the patterned photoalignment technology. By applying low electric field (10 V) on the FLC DG, the grating can switch between a diffractive state with 7 × 7 optical spots array and a non-diffractive state, depending on the polarity of electric field. The FLC DG shows very fast switching speed with switching on time and off time to be only 81 μs and 59 μs respectively. Comparing with other fast LC DGs such as the ones based on blue phase LC or dual-frequency LC, the switching speed of the proposed FLC DG is about one order faster, which provides great potential and perspective for the FLC DG to be applied in a broad range of optical applications such as optical communication and beam shaping.

Published in Crystals

ISSN: 2073-4352 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry: Crystallography
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/crystals/

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