Polarization independent electrically tunable phase grating fabricated from UV-curable liquid crystals

Abstract

Polarization independent electrically tunable Raman-Nath phase diffraction grating has been fabricated in a very simple technique using photo-curable liquid crystals. The structure consists of alternating stripe of twisted-nematic liquid crystal domains and polymerized homeotropic ones. The diffraction efficiency can be tuned by an applied electric field, and is independent of the incident polarization particularly above an electric field to make a Frederiks transition.