Electro-Optic Response of Polymer-Stabilized Cholesteric Liquid Crystals with Different Polymer Concentrations.

Publisher: MDPI Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101545357 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2073-4360 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20734360 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Polymers (Basel) Subsets: PubMed not MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel : MDPI

Polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals (PSCLCs) have emerged as promising candidates for one-dimensional photonic lattices that enable precise tuning of the photonic band gap (PBG). This work systematically investigates the effect of polymer concentrations on the AC electric field-induced tuning of the PBG in PSCLCs, in so doing it explores a range of concentrations and provides new insights into how polymer concentration affects both the stabilization of cholesteric textures and the electro-optic response. We demonstrate that low polymer concentrations (≈3 wt. %) cause a blue shift in the short wavelength band edge, while high concentrations (≈10 wt. %) lead to a contraction and deterioration of the reflection band. Polarization optical microscopy was conducted to confirm the phase transition induced by the application of an electric field. The observations confirm that increased polymer concentration stabilizes the cholesteric texture. Particularly, the highly desired fingerprint texture was stabilized in a sample with 10 wt. % of the polymer, whereas it was unstable for lower polymer concentrations. Additionally, higher polymer concentrations also improved the dissymmetry factor and stability of the lasing emission, with the dissymmetry factor reaching the value of around 2 for samples with 10 wt. % of polymer additive. Our results provide valuable comprehension into the design of advanced PSCLC structures with tunable optical properties, enhancing device performance and paving the way for innovative photonic applications.

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12074201,12104335 National Natural Science Foundation of China; 12074201,12104335) National Natural Science Foundation of China; 2020YFB1805800 the National Key Research and Development Program of China

Keywords: dissymmetry factor; lasing emission; liquid crystals; polymer-stabilized

Date Created: 20240914 Latest Revision: 20240916

20250114

PMC11398086

10.3390/polym16172436

39274069