Electric-field-controllable light scattering in helicoidal ferroelectric liquid crystals

Андреев А.Л., Андреева Т.Б., Компанец И.Н., Бобылев Ю.П., Гончуков С.А., Минченко М.В., Шошин В.М. Управляемое электрическим полем рассеяние света в геликоидальных сегнетоэлектрических жидких кристаллах // Оптический журнал. 2010. Т. 77. № 12. С. 52–61.

Andreev A.L., Andreeva T.B., Kompanets I.N., Bobylev Yu.P., Gonchukov S.A., Minchenko M.V., Shoshin V.M. Electric-field-controllable light scattering in helicoidal ferroelectric liquid crystals [in Russian] // Opticheskii Zhurnal. 2010. V. 77. № 12. P. 52–61.

A. L. Andreev, T. B. Andreeva, I. N. Kompanets, Yu. P. Bobylev, M. V. Minchenko, V. M. Shoshin, and S. A. Gonchukov, "Electric-field-controllable light scattering in helicoidal ferroelectric liquid crystals," Journal of Optical Technology. 77(12), 776-783 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1364/JOT.77.000776

This paper discusses light scattering in an electrooptic cell with a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) at the dynamic domain structure that arises when there is a nonlinear reorientation process of the director of helicoidal FLC in a variable electric field. Choosing the optimum electric-control regime makes it possible to switch the scattering on and off in 150-200μs at a field of 6V/μm. When there is a definite relationship between the amplitude and the width of the alternating pulses of the control voltage, a bistable operating regime of the cell is implemented. A new principle and a simple technique is proposed for suppressing speckle noise by means of a single-pixel FLC cell to which a sequence of bipolar electric pulses of special shape is applied.

The research was supported by RFBR (grants Nos. 06-03-08170, 07-02-00785 и 07-07-91582) and Department of physical sciences of RAS and Presidium of RAS under the programs "New materials and structures" and "Development of methods for chemical substances getting and creating of new materials".