Electrically switchable volume gratings in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

Abstract

We report electrical switching of the diffraction efficiency in volume Bragg gratings written holographically in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). Scanning electron microscopy confirms the volume nature of the gratings and shows that they consist of periodic PDLC planes. The diffraction efficiency can be switched from a high value (∼50%) to a value near zero at fields ∼11 V/μm.