Optically-tunable beam steering grating based n azobenzene doped cholesteric liquid crystal

Abstract

This work proposes an optically controllable beam-steering device, fabricated using cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) that are doped with azobenzene. The trans-cis photoisomerization of azobenzene changes the pitch of the CLC fingerprint structure and shifts the diffraction angle. The diffraction angle increases when the cell is irradiated with UV light, and restored when it is irradiated with green light. Combining the photoisomerization effect with electrical effect, the CLC beam-steering device provides a steering angle of approximately 19 degrees. The tuning is continuous and could be completed within a few seconds.