Polymer-stabilized diffraction gratings from cholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract
We report the use of a low concentration polymer network to stabilize electric field-induced diffraction gratings in cholesteric liquid crystals. The stabilized gratings can be electrically switched between a zero-field “on” state, which exhibits approximately 75% diffraction efficiency, and a moderate field (typically 3 V/μm) “off” state. Grating spacings between 1.7 and 30 μm are obtained in a 10 μm thick cell by variation of the concentration of chiral dopant used to form the cholesteric liquid crystal.

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