Smart Bistable Polymer Stabilized Cholesteric Texture Light Shutter

Abstract

We constructed a cholesteric liquid crystal/polymer network system and studied the aligning effects of the polymer network on the liquid crystal. We stabilized different liquid crystal states by varying the polymer concentration. Using a proper polymer network, we developed a bistable polymer stabilized cholesteric texture (PSCT) light shutter at zero field. The PSCT light shutter is switched to a transparent state by a voltage and remains transparent after removal of the voltage. When the shutter is heated to elevated temperatures, it is switched into a scattering state and remains scattering when cooled to low temperatures.