Electric Field-Driven Shifting and Expansion of Photonic Band Gaps in 3D Liquid Photonic Crystals

• DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00314
• Publication Date: 2015-10-14T20:02:42Z
• Authors: Chun-Wei Chen; Cheng-Chang Li; Hung-Chang Jau; Lu-Chun Yu; Ching-Lang Hong; Duan-Yi Guo; Chun-Ta Wang; Tsung-Hsien Lin
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

Highly tunable 3D liquid photonic crystals are demonstrated using low-dc-field-driven polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystals. The central wavelength of the photonic band gap can be reversibly shifted to more than 200 nm away from the original position. Besides, by controlling the polymerization-induced morphology variations, the band gap can also be expanded from a bandwidth of around 30 nm to at least 310 nm, the first time a “white” blue phase is observed. Both types of band-gap modulation, namely, shifting and expansion, can be independently manipulated in any crystal axis without affecting the lattice spacings in the other dimensions. We envision polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystals as a fascinating platform for photonic applications, such as 3D lasers, nonlinear optics, and photonic integrated circuits.