Reflection image enhancement for photonic crystal devices by using dielectrics

Abstract

We investigated the optical properties of photonic crystal devices (PCDs) using dielectrics. Different dielectrics were injected into a cell gap of the PCDs as a swelling solvent. It is evident that the PCDs reflected a deep blue color when two different materials, chiral ionic liquid (CIL) and photosensitive small molecules, were introduced. To compare the reflection images according to the different dielectrics, a well-known ionic liquid (IL) was used as a control sample. A thinner polymer layer induced a shorter wavelength, which created a strong blue shift phenomenon with a larger refraction index and a larger dielectric constant. In this paper, we obtained 12 nm of reflection enhancement with an applied voltage of 2V using an IL and a deep-blue color image by using the effects of the molecular structure of the CIL and photosensitive materials.