Cholesteric and blue-phase liquid photonic crystals for nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser pulse modulations

Khoo, Iam Choon

doi:10.1080/21680396.2018.1509387

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 156 publications

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“…Tuning and Reconfiguration of the HN-CPC and Polarization Switching LC-based photonic crystals, whether in 1D (CLC) or 3D (bluephase liquid crystals), are well known for tunability owing to the availability of a large assortment of liquid crystals with specially designed physical properties to suit application throughout a very wide spectral regime from visible to near infrared. The wavelength locations of photonic bandgap and band-edges and the dispersion characteristics and related optical properties of CLCs (e.g., spectral dependence of polarization rotation) can all be tailored-made through synthesis or electrically tuned by virtue of the easy susceptibilities of the LC constituents to external stimuli (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34).…”

Section: Polarization Rotation Of Complex Vector Fields Of Cw and Femtosecond-pulsed Lasersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We close this section with a note on the possibility of very fast, though transient, polarization switching with ultrafast (picosecond to femtosecond) laser pulse-induced perturbation of the CLC molecules' electronic wave functions (31)(32)(33)(34)…”

Section: Polarization Rotation Of Complex Vector Fields Of Cw and Femtosecond-pulsed Lasersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polarization rotation is independent of input polarization orientation and acts equally well on simple or complex vector fields (18)(19)(20)(21)(22) of continuous-wave (CW) or ultrafast pulsed laser beams. Liquid crystal-based CPCs also allow dynamic polarization switching and control by virtue of field-induced index/birefringence changing mechanisms at modest or ultrafast (picosecond to femtosecond) speeds (23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical vector field rotation and switching with near-unity transmission by fully developed chiral photonic crystals

Chen

Khoo

2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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State-of-the-art nanostructured chiral photonic crystals (CPCs), metamaterials, and metasurfaces have shown giant optical rotatory power but are generally passive and beset with large optical losses and with inadequate performance due to limited size/interaction length and narrow operation bandwidth. In this work, we demonstrate by detailed theoretical modeling and experiments that a fully developed CPC, one for which the number of unit cells N is high enough that it acquires the full potentials of an ideal (N → ∞) crystal, will overcome the aforementioned limitations, leading to a new generation of versatile high-performance polarization manipulation optics. Such high-N CPCs are realized by field-assisted self-assembly of cholesteric liquid crystals to unprecedented thicknesses not possible with any other means. Characterization studies show that high-N CPCs exhibit broad transmission maxima accompanied by giant rotatory power, thereby enabling large (>π) polarization rotation with near-unity transmission over a large operation bandwidth. Polarization rotation is demonstrated to be independent of input polarization orientation and applies equally well on continuous-wave or ultrafast (picosecond to femtosecond) pulsed lasers of simple or complex (radial, azimuthal) vector fields. Liquid crystal–based CPCs also allow very wide tuning of the operation spectral range and dynamic polarization switching and control possibilities by virtue of several stimuli-induced index or birefringence changing mechanisms.

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Section: Polarization Rotation Of Complex Vector Fields Of Cw and Femtosecond-pulsed Lasersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Polarization Rotation Of Complex Vector Fields Of Cw and Femtosecond-pulsed Lasersmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical vector field rotation and switching with near-unity transmission by fully developed chiral photonic crystals

Chen

Khoo

2021

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Blue-phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) are typical soft cubic phases 8 , 14 – 19 that combine the order of solid molecular crystals and the fluidity of the liquids. BPLCs have attracted intense scientific and engineering interest in recent decades because they exhibit narrow photonic bandgaps and submillisecond response times, do not require alignment layers, and have potential applications in adjustable lasers 20 – 26 , displays 27 – 29 , and nonlinear optical devices 30 , 31 . BPLCs are analogous to atomic crystals 14 , 17 , 32 , 33 based on their highly ordered structures at both the molecular (orientational molecular order) and mesoscopic scales (chiral arrays of double-twisted cylinders (DTCs), which are induced by the self-assembly of the molecules).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusionless transformation of soft cubic superstructure from amorphous to simple cubic and body-centered cubic phases

Liu

Guan

et al. 2021

Nat Commun

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In a narrow temperature window in going from the isotropic to highly chiral orders, cholesteric liquid crystals exhibit so-called blue phases, consisting of different morphologies of long, space-filling double twisted cylinders. Those of cubic spatial symmetry have attracted considerable attention in recent years as templates for soft photonic materials. The latter often requires the creation of monodomains of predefined orientation and size, but their engineering is complicated by a lack of comprehensive understanding of how blue phases nucleate and transform into each other at a submicrometer length scale. In this work, we accomplish this by intercepting nucleation processes at intermediate stages with fast cross-linking of a stabilizing polymer matrix. We reveal using transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron small-angle X-ray diffraction, and angle-resolved microspectroscopy that the grid of double-twisted cylinders undergoes highly coordinated, diffusionless transformations. In light of our findings, the implementation of several applications is discussed, such as temperature-switchable QR codes, micro-area lasing, and fabrication of blue phase liquid crystals with large domain sizes.

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“…Recently, ultrafast laser pulse modulation was demonstrated in CLCs [20][21][22][23]. Perspectives opened up by these results are reviewed in [24]. The principle resides in the combination of Kerr nonlinear effect, particularly high in CLCs [25,26], and specific pulse dispersion management.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersion of 20 fs pulses through band edges of cholesteric liquid crystals

Neradovskiy¹,

Scarangella²,

Jullien³

et al. 2019

Opt. Express

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We demonstrate the ability to manipulate ultrashort pulses in cholesteric liquid crystals in the linear regime. We present an extensive analysis of the spectral changes undergone by 20fs pulses when propagating through band edges of cholesteric liquid crystals. The accurate quantification of the introduced optical dispersion opens the way to controlled stretching and compression of ultrashort pulses. The behaviors of cholesteric liquid crystal films with different thickness, bandgap and structural parameters (monotonic pitch versus pitch-gradient films) are compared. A statistical approach is disclosed to fidelize and deepen the set of experimental investigations.

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Cholesteric and blue-phase liquid photonic crystals for nonlinear optics and ultrafast laser pulse modulations

Cited by 20 publications

References 156 publications

Optical vector field rotation and switching with near-unity transmission by fully developed chiral photonic crystals

Optical vector field rotation and switching with near-unity transmission by fully developed chiral photonic crystals

Diffusionless transformation of soft cubic superstructure from amorphous to simple cubic and body-centered cubic phases

Dispersion of 20 fs pulses through band edges of cholesteric liquid crystals

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