Two-dimentional diffractive optical structure based on patterned photoalignment of  polymerizable liquid crystal

  • Olga S. Kabanova Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5100-9708
  • Iryna I.  Rushnova Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Elena A.  Melnikova Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Alexei L.  Tolstik Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Alexander A.  Muravsky Institute of Chemistry of New Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 36 F. Skaryny Street, Minsk 220141, Belarus
  • Anatoli A.  Murauski Institute of Chemistry of New Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 36 F. Skaryny Street, Minsk 220141, Belarus
  • Rainer Heintzmann Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, 9 Albert-Einstein-Straße, Jena 07745, Germany
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-2243-2019-3-4-11

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the investigation of the diffraction characteristics of a multilayer optical structure, represented by a two-dimensional phase lattice formed in thin-film layers of nematic polymerizable liquid crystal (PLC). In order to generate periodically ordered liquid-crystal (LC) domains with dimensions of 5–10 µm, which form an anisotropic LC grating, the layer-by-layer patterned photoalignment technology of the water-soluble azo dye AbA-2522 was used.  The possibilities of spatial-polarization control of light beams by means of developed one- and two-dimensional diffractive LC structures have been studied experimentally. Our results are promising from the point of view of development and creation of LC-devices for solving current problems of polarization photonics.

Author Biographies

Olga S. Kabanova, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

PhD (physics and mathematics); researcher at the laboratory of nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, department of laser physics and spectroscopy, faculty of physics

Iryna I.  Rushnova, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

PhD (physics and mathematics); researcher  at the laboratory of nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, department of laser physics and spectroscopy, faculty of physics

Elena A.  Melnikova, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

PhD (physics and mathematics), docent;  associate professor at the department of laser physics and spectroscopy, faculty of physics

Alexei L.  Tolstik, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

doctor of science (physics and mathematics), full professor; head of the department of laser physics and spectroscopy, faculty of physics

Alexander A.  Muravsky, Institute of Chemistry of New Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 36 F. Skaryny Street, Minsk 220141, Belarus

PhD (physics and mathematics), docent; head of the laboratory «Materials and technologies of LC devices»

Anatoli A.  Murauski, Institute of Chemistry of New Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 36 F. Skaryny Street, Minsk 220141, Belarus

PhD (physics and mathematics); leading  researcher at the laboratory «Materials and technologies of LC devices»

Rainer Heintzmann, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, 9 Albert-Einstein-Straße, Jena 07745, Germany

doctor of science (physics), full professor; head of the microscopy research unit

References

  1. Chigrinov VG, Kozenkov VM, Kwok H-S. Photoalignment of Liquid Crystalline Materials: Physics and Applications. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons; 2008. 248 p. DOI: 10.1002/9780470751800.
  2. Chigrinov VG. Photoaligning and photopatterning – a new challenge in liquid crystal photonics. Crystals. 2013;3(4):149 –162. DOI: 10.3390/cryst3010149.
  3. Komar A, Tolstik A, Melnikova E, Muravsky A. Optical switch based on the electrically controlled liquid crystal interface. Applied Optics. 2015;54(16):5130 –5135. DOI: 10.1364/AO.54.005130.
  4. Melnikova E, Tolstik A, Rushnova I, Kabanova O, Muravsky A. Electrically controlled spatial-polarization switch based on patterned photoalignment of nematic liquid crystals. Applied Optics. 2016;55(23):6491– 6495. DOI: 10.1364/AO.55.006491.
  5. Rushnova I, Melnikova E, Tolstik A, Muravsky A. Electrically switchable photonic liquid crystal devices for routing of a polarized light wave. Optics Communications. 2018;413:179 –183. DOI: 10.1016/J.OPTCOM.2017.12.029.
  6. Rushnova II, Kabanova OS, Melnikova EA, Tolstik AL. Integrated-optical nematic liquid crystal switches: designing and operation features. Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems. 2018;21(3):206 –219.
  7. Rutkowska KA, Chychłowski M, Kwaśny M, Ostromęcka I, Piłka J, Laudyn UA. Light propagation in periodic photonic structures formed by photo-orientation and photo-polymerization of nematic liquid crystals. Opto-Electronics Review. 2017;25(2):118–126. DOI: 10.1016/J.OPELRE.2017.05.004.
  8. Chigrinov VG, Kwok H-S, Hasebe H, Takatsu H, Takada H. Liquid-crystal photoaligning by azo dyes. Journal of the Society for Information Display. 2008;16(9):897– 904. DOI: 10.1889/1.2976648.
  9. Trofimova A, Mahilny U. Anisotropic gratings based on patterned photoalignment of reactive mesogen. Journal of the Optical Society of America B. 2014;31(5):948–952. DOI: 10.1364/JOSAB.31.000948.
  10. Hu W, Srivastava A, Xu F, Sun J-T, Lin X-W, Cui H-Q, et al. Liquid crystal gratings based on alternate TN and PA photoalignment. Optics Express. 2012;20(5):5384 –5391. DOI: 10.1364/OE.20.005384.
  11. Olenskaya II, Kabanova OS, Melnikova EA. [Liquid crystal waveguide elements with different topology of modulation of interface refractive areas]. Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. 2015;17(2):87–91. Russian.
  12. Zhao CX, Fan F, Du T, Chigrinov VG, Kwok HS. Multilayer photo-aligned thin-film structure for polarizing photonics. Optics Letters. 2015;40(13):2993–2996. DOI: 10.1364/OL.40.002993.
  13. Mikulich V, Murawski A, Muravsky A, Agabekov V. Influence of methyl substituents on azo-dye photoalignment in thin films. Journal of Applied Spectroscopy. 2016;83(1):115–120. DOI: 10.1007/s10812-016-0252-y.
  14. Mikulich V, Murauski A, Muravsky A, Agabekov V, Bezruchenko V. Waterproof material for liquid crystals photoalignment based on azo dyes. Journal of the Society for Information Display. 2014;22(1):199–203. DOI: 10.1002/jsid.238.
  15. Ormaсhea O, Tolstik AL. [Polarization multiwave mixing in solutions of laser dyes]. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriya fizicheskaya. 2005;69(8):1144 –1146. Russian.
  16. Gorbach DV, Nazarov SA, Romanov OG, Tolstik AL. Polarization transformation of singular light beams upon four- and sixwave mixing. Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems. 2015;18(2):149 –156.
Published
2019-10-05
Keywords: diffractive structure, patterned photoalignment, polymerizable liquid crystal, optical anisotropy, alignment films
Supporting Agencies This research has been financially supported by the State Program of Scientific Research of the Republic of Belarus «Convergence 2020» (assignment 3.03.5 «Development of materials and technologies for the creation of microstructured liquid crystal elements for photonic applications») and also by the Belarusian Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research (contract No. F18KI-025 «New highly sensitive photoalignment materials and liquid crystal spatial phase modulators based on them, formed by the optical addressing method»).
How to Cite
Kabanova, O. S., Rushnova, I., Melnikova, E., Tolstik, A., Muravsky, A., Murauski, A., & Heintzmann, R. (2019). Two-dimentional diffractive optical structure based on patterned photoalignment of  polymerizable liquid crystal. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Physics, 3, 4-11. https://doi.org/10.33581/2520-2243-2019-3-4-11
Issue
No 3 (2019): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Physics
Section
Optics and Spectroscopy

Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Physics

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)