Electric field tuning of a stop band in a reflection spectrum of synthetic opal infiltrated with nematic liquid crystal

Electric field tuning of an optical stop band in a reflection spectrum is demonstrated in a synthetic opal thin film infiltrated with liquid crystal. The reflection peak of the opal shifts upon the application of the electric field, and this is based on the refractive index change caused by molecular reorientation upon application of a field. The dynamic response of the stop band shift was also studied, and fast response of the order of microsecond was observed.

[1]  Francisco Meseguer,et al.  Photonic crystal properties of packed submicrometric SiO2 spheres , 1997 .

[2]  M. Ozaki,et al.  Tunable Optical Stop Band and Reflection Peak in Synthetic Opal Infiltrated with Liquid Crystal and Conducting Polymer as Photonic Crystal , 1999 .

[3]  Kurt Busch,et al.  Tunable two-dimensional photonic crystals using liquid crystal infiltration , 2000 .

[4]  A. Zakhidov,et al.  The Optical Properties of Porous Opal Crystals Infiltrated with Organic Molecules , 1997 .

[5]  Masanori Ozaki,et al.  Amplified spontaneous emission and lasing in conducting polymers and fluorescent dyes in opals as photonic crystals , 1999 .

[6]  Masanori Ozaki,et al.  Temperature tuning of the stop band in transmission spectra of liquid-crystal infiltrated synthetic opal as tunable photonic crystal , 1999 .

[7]  E. Yablonovitch,et al.  Inhibited spontaneous emission in solid-state physics and electronics. , 1987, Physical review letters.

[8]  O. Z. Karimov,et al.  EXISTENCE OF A PHOTONIC PSEUDOGAP FOR VISIBLE LIGHT IN SYNTHETIC OPALS , 1997 .

[9]  R. Baughman,et al.  Electro-optic behavior of liquid-crystal-filled silica opal photonic crystals: effect of liquid-crystal alignment. , 2001, Physical review letters.

[10]  Kurt Busch,et al.  Liquid-Crystal Photonic-Band-Gap Materials: The Tunable Electromagnetic Vacuum , 1999 .

[11]  N. Clark,et al.  Electro-optic Behavior of Liquid-Crystal-Filled Silica Opal Photonic Crystals , 2001 .

[12]  Masanori Ozaki,et al.  Observation of inhibited spontaneous emission and stimulated emission of rhodamine 6G in polymer replica of synthetic opal , 1998 .

[13]  Shin-Tson Wu,et al.  A SEMIEMPIRICAL MODEL FOR LIQUID-CRYSTAL REFRACTIVE INDEX DISPERSIONS , 1991 .

[14]  John,et al.  Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices. , 1987, Physical review letters.