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All-optical switching in a nematic liquid crystal twist cell

Jessica Merlin, Elysa Chao, Mark Winkler, Kenneth D. Singer, Platon Korneychuk, and Yuri Reznikov

Open Access Open Access

Abstract

Continuous wave photorefractive-like all-optical switching was demonstrated using a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell composed of the liquid crystal 5CB (4-pentyl-4’-cyanobiphenyl) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) aligning layers. The nonlinear optical effect involved is due to optical control of surface charge on the polyvinyl alcohol alignment layer. The cell exhibits strong optical control of the Friedericksz transition by an argon ion laser. A mechanism is proposed involving the modulation of the charge double layer by photoinduced charge. Optical limiting in the milliwatt range was observed.

©2005 Optical Society of America

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Figures (6)
Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Experiment layout. The pump laser (green) is an Argon ion laser (λ=488nm); the probe laser (red) is a HeNe laser (<1mW).

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Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Friedericksz transition measurements. Black line is ac (RMS) voltage, red line is dc voltage, and blue line is dc voltage with 730 mW/cm2 pump applied. All three vertical lines correspond to the transient measurements shown in Fig. 5.

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Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Optical gate measurement. Pump applied (2.6W/cm2) at the first vertical line, and turned off at the second vertical line. The bias voltage is 4.34V dc.

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Fig. 4.
Fig. 4. Model of the observed effects. Charged layers are shown at the interface between the liquid crystal and the alignment layers.

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Fig. 5.
Fig. 5. Transient (a) optical transmittance (transmittance=1 at time=0 in all cases) and (b) current following application of a dc voltage as indicated.

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Fig. 6.
Fig. 6. Optical limiting and saturation. Data is normalized to the transmission at very low power (microwatt) input. The beam was not focused and had a 1 mm diameter.

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