Switching of Defect Modes in a Photonic Structure with a Tristable Smectic-A Liquid Crystal

Abstract

"A one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PC) optical device based on smectic-A (SmA) liquid crystal (LC) as a defect layer is proposed. The reversible tristability of the SmA LC is used to realize a low-energy-consumption device. With a voltage-induced scattering state, the PC-SmA hybrid cell can work as a polarizer-free optical switch. The variation of the effective refractive index of the LC substance enables the defect modes to appear at variable wavelengths, changing with the voltage-induced reorientation of the LC director. As a result, an electrically and thermally tunable multichannel optical device is achieved using this hybrid, optically tristable structure. (c) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics"