Electro-optics of blue phase liquid crystal in field-perpendicular direction

Abstract

The electro-optic effect is the working principle of blue phase (BP) liquid crystals, and it describes the relationship between the field-induced birefringence of BPs and the field strength. Due to the electrostriction of BP crystals under the electric field, an orthorhombic or tetragonal crystal is usually obtained when the field is applied along one of the twofold axes of a BP crystal, leading to the optical biaxiality under electric field. Such field-induced optical biaxiality of BPs has been predicted and observed, but its dependence on the field strength has not been investigated. In this research, we analyze the electro-optics in the field-perpendicular direction by measuring the birefringence in highly ordered BP I(110) crystals perpendicular to the electric field. Results reveal that BP I crystals in the field-perpendicular direction show an electro-optic coefficient of the order of 10−10 m/V2 that may result from the large lattice deformation of BP crystals perpendicular to the electric field. Our research provides important experimental evidence for the tensorial properties of BP Kerr effect and may have important implications on the engineering of BP electro-optical devices in practical applications.