Accession Number:
ADA614813
Title:
Reflection Spectra of Distorted Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Structures in Cells with Interdigitated Electrodes (Postprint)
Descriptive Note:
Interim rept. 24 Dec 2009-3 Jun 2014
Corporate Author:
AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH MATERIALS AND MANUFACTURING DIRECTORATE
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
2014-07-01
Pagination or Media Count:
14.0
Abstract:
We studied the appearance of second- and third-order Bragg reflections in cholesteric liquid crystals CLCs in cells where the electric field was perpendicular to the helical axis. Second-order reflections with reflectance values as large as 80 of the first-order one were observed in the gap regions of alignment cells with interdigitated electrodes for CLC mixtures with pitches in the range 0.5-1.0 microns upon application of a field. The characterization was enabled by local probing of the CLC using a microspectrophotometer. LC cells that are transparent in the visible spectrum in the off-state and become colored upon application of a field due the second- or third-order reflection band appearance were demonstrated. The spectral position of the higher-order Bragg reflections can also be tuned by adjusting the magnitude of the electric field.
Descriptors:
Subject Categories:
- Optics