Microsecond electro-optic switching in the nematic phase of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Thapa, Kamal, Paladugu, Sathyanarayana, Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910677830991872
author Thapa, Kamal
Paladugu, Sathyanarayana
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
author_facet Thapa, Kamal
Paladugu, Sathyanarayana
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
contents Nematic liquid crystals exhibit nanosecond electro-optic response to an applied electric field which modifies the degree of orientational order without realigning the molecular orientation. However, this nanosecond electrically-modified order parameter (NEMOP) effect requires high driving fields, on the order of 100 V/um for a modest birefringence change of 0.01. In this work, we demonstrate that a nematic phase of the recently discovered ferroelectric nematic materials exhibits a robust and fast electro-optic response. Namely, a relatively weak field of 20 V/um changes the birefringence by 0.04 with field-on and-off times around 1 us. This microsecond electrically modified order parameter (MEMOP) effect shows a greatly improved figure of merit when compared to other electro-optical switching modes in liquid crystals, including the conventional Frederiks effect, and has a potential for applications in fast electro-optical devices such as phase modulators, optical shutters, displays, and beam steerers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_22441
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Microsecond electro-optic switching in the nematic phase of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal
Thapa, Kamal
Paladugu, Sathyanarayana
Lavrentovich, Oleg D.
Soft Condensed Matter
Nematic liquid crystals exhibit nanosecond electro-optic response to an applied electric field which modifies the degree of orientational order without realigning the molecular orientation. However, this nanosecond electrically-modified order parameter (NEMOP) effect requires high driving fields, on the order of 100 V/um for a modest birefringence change of 0.01. In this work, we demonstrate that a nematic phase of the recently discovered ferroelectric nematic materials exhibits a robust and fast electro-optic response. Namely, a relatively weak field of 20 V/um changes the birefringence by 0.04 with field-on and-off times around 1 us. This microsecond electrically modified order parameter (MEMOP) effect shows a greatly improved figure of merit when compared to other electro-optical switching modes in liquid crystals, including the conventional Frederiks effect, and has a potential for applications in fast electro-optical devices such as phase modulators, optical shutters, displays, and beam steerers.
title Microsecond electro-optic switching in the nematic phase of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.22441