Locally-induced permanent birefringence by polymer-stabilization of liquid crystal in cells and photonic crystal fibers

Abstract

The aim of this work was to induce permanent birefringence both in typical liquid crystal cells and photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) by photo-polymerization. For this purpose three different liquid crystalline materials, namely E7, 5CB, and 6CHBT were combined with a mixture of RM257 monomer and a UV sensitive initiator with the percentage weight less than 10%. Due to the photo-polymerization process it was possible to achieve polymer-stabilized liquid crystal orientation inside LC cells and micro-sized cylindrical glass tubes. In particular, periodic change in spatial molecular orientation was achieved by selective photo-polymerization. Successful results obtained in these simple geometries allowed for the experimental procedure to be repeated in PCFs leading to locally-induced permanent birefringence in PCFs.