PD02 Study on laser emission using photocurable cholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract

Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) exhibit unique optical properties of selective light reflection, whose wavelength is intrinsically determined by the optical refractive index and the helical pitch length of the CLCs, as a result of the periodic structure of rotating nematic layers. The helical structure works as one-dimensional photonic bandgap, leading to mirrorless laser action at edges of the bandgap by the distributed cavity effect. In this study, we prepared a photocurable CLC by introduction of a small amount of a chiral agent into a nematic liquid crystal monomer. Laser action from the photocurable CLCs doped with a conventional laser dye was investigated before and after the photopolymerization.