Holographically formed, acoustically switchable gratings based on polymer-dispersed liquid crystals.

Autor: Liu YJ; Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA., Lu M, Ding X, Leong ES, Lin SC, Shi J, Teng JH, Wang L, Bunning TJ, Huang TJ
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of laboratory automation [J Lab Autom] 2013 Aug; Vol. 18 (4), pp. 291-5. Date of Electronic Publication: 2012 Aug 21.
DOI: 10.1177/2211068212455632
Abstrakt: We report holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) gratings driven by surface acoustic waves (SAWs). Our experiments show that upon applying SAWs, the H-PDLC grating exhibited switchable properties: The diffraction of the H-PDLC grating decreased, whereas the transmission increased. This acoustically switchable behavior is due to the acoustic streaming-induced realignment of liquid crystals as well as absorption-resulted thermal diffusion. Such SAW-driven H-PDLC gratings are potentially useful in many photonic applications, such as optical switches, spatial light modulators, and switchable add/drop filters.
Databáze: MEDLINE