Fast and low loss flexoelectro-optic liquid crystal phase modulator with a chiral nematic reflector

Wang, Xiuze; Fells, Julian A.J.; Yip, Wing C.; Ali, Taimoor; Lin, Jia de; Welch, Chris; Mehl, Georg H.; Booth, Martin J.; Wilkinson, Timothy D.; Morris, Stephen M.; Elston, Steve J.

Abstract

© 2019, The Author(s). In this paper, we demonstrate a flexoelectro-optic liquid crystal phase-only device that uses a chiral nematic reflector to achieve full 2π phase modulation. This configuration is found to be very tolerant to imperfections in the chiral nematic reflector provided that the flexoelectro-optic LC layer fulfils the half-wave condition. Encouragingly, the modulation in the phase, which operates at kHz frame rates, is also accompanied by low amplitude modulation. The configuration demonstrated herein is particularly promising for the development of next-generation liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulators.

Citation

Wang, X., Fells, J. A., Yip, W. C., Ali, T., Lin, J. D., Welch, C., Mehl, G. H., Booth, M. J., Wilkinson, T. D., Morris, S. M., & Elston, S. J. (2019). Fast and low loss flexoelectro-optic liquid crystal phase modulator with a chiral nematic reflector. Scientific reports, 9(1), Article 7016. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42831-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2019
• Online Publication Date: May 7, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 21, 2019
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 7016
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42831-5
• Keywords: Liquid crystals; Optoelectronic devices and components
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1552920
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-42831-5
• Contract Date: Jun 21, 2019