Localised opto-thermal response of nematic liquid crystal to laser light

We report on the thermal response of a thin nematic liquid crystal layer to a strong laser pulse, which is partially absorbed by the Indium Tin Oxide electrodes of the measuring LC cell. We measure local increase and temperature profile of the heated region and we measure the time response of the bi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Liquid crystals 2019-05, Vol.46 (7), p.1117-1126
Main Authors: Jagodič, U., Ryzhkova, A.V., Muševič, I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Birefringence
Cooling
Indium tin oxides
Kibble-Zurek mechanism
Laser beam heating
Laser cooling
Lasers
Liquid crystals
Nematic crystals
Opto-thermal effect
Temperature
Temperature profiles
thermal properties
Thermal response
Time dependence
Time response
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Summary:We report on the thermal response of a thin nematic liquid crystal layer to a strong laser pulse, which is partially absorbed by the Indium Tin Oxide electrodes of the measuring LC cell. We measure local increase and temperature profile of the heated region and we measure the time response of the birefringence of this nematic layer. It is found that local increase of the temperature due to absorption of a 90 Mw laser light of 10 MS duration can easily exceed °C and depends on the localisation and focusing of the laser beam. Local thermal response of the heated nematic cell is measured by monitoring the time dependence of birefringence during the cooling and we found that nematic layer can be cooled down at an extremely fast rate of 10000 K/s. Optical retardation of 200 nm can be switched in 100 μs by laser pulse absorption and heating/cooling.
ISSN:0267-8292
1366-5855
DOI:10.1080/02678292.2018.1557270