Transmissive flexoelectro-optic liquid crystal optical phase modulator with 2π modulation

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate analog phase modulation in a transmissive configuration using the flexoelectro-optic effect in short-pitch chiral nematic liquid crystal (LC) devices. Two different modes are considered, both of which are shown to generate full 2π phase modulation at 1 kHz switching frequency. The first configuration that is considered consists of a half-wave plate that is placed between two flexoelectro-optic LC devices that are subjected to electric fields that are applied in phase. Second, we demonstrate that a similar phase modulation response can be observed by removing the half-wave plate and subjecting the two flexoelectro-optic LC devices to electric fields whereby the polarities are out of phase. Both configurations demonstrated herein are promising for the development of next-generation LC spatial light modulators, particularly when reflective geometries are challenging or impractical.