AC electric field assisted orientational photorefractive effect in C60-doped nematic liquid crystal

Abstract

Photorefractive gratings were produced in a C60-doped nematic liquid crystal cell under the application of two coherent beams and a nonbiased sinusoidal ac electric field. The beam coupling and diffraction of the ac electric field assisted gratings were studied systematically. A stable asymmetric energy transference was obtained. Diffraction was observed when the angle (between the normal of the cell and the bisector of the writing beams) was 0°, and the dependence of diffraction efficiency on the peak-to-peak value of the ac voltage was similar to that at an incidence angle of 45°, suggesting that the role of the ac field was to facilitate the charge separation, and the space-charge field (SCF) originated predominantly from the diffusion of the ac electric field assisted photo-induced carriers under the application of nonuniform illumination and an applied ac field. The grating was produced by director reorientation induced by the cooperation of the SCF and the applied ac electric field. A self-erasing phenomenon was observed in this cell. An explanation in terms of the movement of two kinds of carriers with opposite signs was proposed.