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Tunable all-optical switching in periodic structures with liquid-crystal defects

Andrey E. Miroshnichenko·Igor Pinkevych·Yuri S. Kivshar
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Abstract

We suggest that tunable orientational nonlinearity of nematic liquid crystals can be employed for all-optical switching in periodic photonic structures with liquid-crystal defects. We consider a one-dimensional periodic structure of Si layers with a local defect created by infiltrating a liquid crystal into a pore, and demonstrate, by solving numerically a system of coupled nonlinear equations for the nematic director and the propagating electric field, that the light-induced Freedericksz transition can lead to a sharp switching and diode operation in the photonic devices.

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Andrey E. Miroshnichenko, Igor Pinkevych, Yuri S. Kivshar. 2006-01-18. Tunable all-optical switching in periodic structures with liquid-crystal defects. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.14.002839

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