Abstract
This work demonstrates an electrically-tunable nematic liquid crystal (NLC) diffraction grating with a periodic electrode structure, and discusses the polarization properties of its diffraction. The efficiency of the first-order diffraction can be gradually controlled by applying external electric fields cross the NLC, and the maximum diffraction efficiency of the first-order diffraction that can be obtained is around 12.5% under the applied voltage of 5.0 V. In addition to the applied electric field, the efficiency of the first-order diffraction can also vary by changing the polarized state of the incident beam. Antisymmetric polarization states with symmetrical intensities in the diffractions corresponding to the +1 and −1 order diffraction signals are also demonstrated.
Highlights
Polarization is an interesting feature in optics [1], and numerous applications based on the control of polarization have attracted attention recently, such as 3D displays and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) [2,3,4]
As based on liquid-crystal-related materials, have been extensively proposed; for example, tunable amplitude gratings based on polymer-dispersed liquid crystals [18], optically and electrically controllable gratings based on dye-doped nematic liquid crystals [19,20], tunable phase gratings on the basis of the photo-alignment technique [21], and circular-polarization selective gratings based on cholesteric liquid crystals [22]
This paper demonstrates an electrically-tunable diffraction grating, as based on nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) in a specialized cell with periodic electrodes, and discusses the polarization properties of the ±1st order diffractions
Summary
Polarization is an interesting feature in optics [1], and numerous applications based on the control of polarization have attracted attention recently, such as 3D displays and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) [2,3,4]. With the features of controllable birefringence and refractive indices, liquid crystal has been applied in various fields, such as displays [5], ophthalmic optics [6,7,8], beam shaping [9,10,11], and bio-sensors [12,13,14]. As based on liquid-crystal-related materials, have been extensively proposed; for example, tunable amplitude gratings based on polymer-dispersed liquid crystals [18], optically and electrically controllable gratings based on dye-doped nematic liquid crystals [19,20], tunable phase gratings on the basis of the photo-alignment technique [21], and circular-polarization selective gratings based on cholesteric liquid crystals [22]. Previous literature shows that the diffraction efficiency of first order diffraction in a dye-doped liquid crystal grating can be influenced by the amount of the doped azo-dyes [20]
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