Pitch tuning induced by optical torque in heliconical cholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract

Heliconical cholesteric liquid crystals are expected to be more sensitive to torque induced by light field since their structure allows both bend and twist in molecular orientations, differently from the conventional cholesterics in which only twist deformation is involved, requiring much higher fields. We report here a demonstration of tuning the helical pitch in heliconical cholesterics induced by an optical torque. Experimental observations are in agreement with expectations of the classical theory extended to include the effect of the optical field. A dual control of the helical pitch is achieved including both the low-frequency electric field applied along the helix axis and the optical field orthogonal to it.

arXiv comment8 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Nematic twist-bend phase with nanoscale modulation of molecular orientation
• A Twist-Bend Chiral Helix of 8nm Pitch in a Nematic Liquid Crystal of Achiral Molecular Dimers
• Electrically tunable selective reflection of light from ultraviolet to visible and infrared by heliconical cholesterics
• Elastic and viscous properties of nematic dimer CB7CB