Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications
Liquid crystals are interesting linear and nonlinear optical materials used to make a wide variety of devices beyond flat panel displays. Liquid crystalline materials can be used either as core or as cladding of switchable/reconfigurable waveguides with either an electrical or an optical control or...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/18/8713 |
| _version_ | 1829453410489860096 |
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| author | Antonio d’Alessandro Rita Asquini |
| author_facet | Antonio d’Alessandro Rita Asquini |
| author_sort | Antonio d’Alessandro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Liquid crystals are interesting linear and nonlinear optical materials used to make a wide variety of devices beyond flat panel displays. Liquid crystalline materials can be used either as core or as cladding of switchable/reconfigurable waveguides with either an electrical or an optical control or both. In this paper, materials and main device structures of liquid crystals confined in different waveguide geometries are presented using different substrate materials, such as silicon, soda lime or borosilicate glass and polydimethylsiloxane. Modelling of the behaviour of liquid crystal nanometric molecular reorientation and related refractive index distribution under both low-frequency electric and intense optical fields is reported considering optical anisotropy of liquid crystals. A few examples of integrated optic devices based on waveguides using liquid crystalline materials as core for optical switching and filtering are reviewed. Reported results indicate that low-power control signals represent a significant feature of photonic devices based on light propagation in liquid crystals, with performance, which are competitive with analogous integrated optic devices based on other materials for optical communications and optical sensing systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:55:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a161babfdd274c19bd78e52a47db9e33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:55:21Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-a161babfdd274c19bd78e52a47db9e332023-11-22T11:57:05ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-09-011118871310.3390/app11188713Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device ApplicationsAntonio d’Alessandro0Rita Asquini1Centre of Nanotechnologies Applied to Engineering–CNIS, Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Roma, ItalyCentre of Nanotechnologies Applied to Engineering–CNIS, Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Roma, ItalyLiquid crystals are interesting linear and nonlinear optical materials used to make a wide variety of devices beyond flat panel displays. Liquid crystalline materials can be used either as core or as cladding of switchable/reconfigurable waveguides with either an electrical or an optical control or both. In this paper, materials and main device structures of liquid crystals confined in different waveguide geometries are presented using different substrate materials, such as silicon, soda lime or borosilicate glass and polydimethylsiloxane. Modelling of the behaviour of liquid crystal nanometric molecular reorientation and related refractive index distribution under both low-frequency electric and intense optical fields is reported considering optical anisotropy of liquid crystals. A few examples of integrated optic devices based on waveguides using liquid crystalline materials as core for optical switching and filtering are reviewed. Reported results indicate that low-power control signals represent a significant feature of photonic devices based on light propagation in liquid crystals, with performance, which are competitive with analogous integrated optic devices based on other materials for optical communications and optical sensing systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/18/8713liquid crystalsoptical waveguidesoptoelectronicsintegrated opticselectro-opticsnonlinear optics |
| spellingShingle | Antonio d’Alessandro Rita Asquini Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications Applied Sciences liquid crystals optical waveguides optoelectronics integrated optics electro-optics nonlinear optics |
| title | Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications |
| title_full | Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications |
| title_fullStr | Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications |
| title_short | Light Propagation in Confined Nematic Liquid Crystals and Device Applications |
| title_sort | light propagation in confined nematic liquid crystals and device applications |
| topic | liquid crystals optical waveguides optoelectronics integrated optics electro-optics nonlinear optics |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/18/8713 |
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