Optically-driven switching of a planar nematic liquid crystal cell with parallel rubbing

Authors

  • Varsenik Nersesyan a) Electronics and Information Systems Department, Ghent University, Tech Lane Ghent Science Park - Campus A, 15 (iGent), 9052 Ghent, Belgium; b) Center for nano and biophotonics Ghent University, Tech Lane Ghent Science Park - Campus A, 15 (iGent), 9052 Ghent, Belgium c) Photonics department, Institute for Physical Research of NAS RA, 0203 Ashtarak, Armenia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4302/plp.v9i2.715

Abstract

This letter reports on the switching of a planar nematic liquid crystal cell with parallel rubbing of the alignment layers, under the application of a voltage, when there is initially an optical field. The voltage application over the liquid crystal in such a cell leads normally to the formation of multiple domains because there is the two switching directions are equivalent. However, an incident optical field under an angle will locally reorient the director and break the symmetry between the equivalent switching directions. The subsequent application of a voltage pulse amplifies the tilt angle and leads to the formation of a dominant domain, with an order of magnitude larger size than the optical beam profile. Several switching conditions are demonstrated for different incident angles of the beam. It is shown that the final switching direction of the entire cell is determined by the tilt angle of the optical field. The lensing effects due to the modified director distribution in the domain walls is analyzed qualitatively.

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References
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Published

2017-07-01

How to Cite

[1]
V. Nersesyan, “Optically-driven switching of a planar nematic liquid crystal cell with parallel rubbing”, Photonics Lett. Pol., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. pp. 39–41, Jul. 2017.

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2017)

Section

Articles

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