Magnetically tunable selective reflection of light by heliconical cholesterics

S. M. Salili, J. Xiang, H. Wang, Q. Li, D. A. Paterson, J. M D Storey, C. T. Imrie, O. D. Lavrentovich, S. N. Sprunt, J. T. Gleeson, A. Jákli

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Abstract

We present studies of chiral nematic liquid crystals composed of flexible dimer molecules subject to large dc magnetic fields between 0 and 31 T. We observe that these fields lead to selective reflection of light depending on temperature and magnetic field. The band of reflected wavelengths can be tuned from ultraviolet to beyond the IR-C band. A similar effect induced by electric fields has been presented previously, and was explained by a field-induced oblique-heliconical director deformation in accordance with early theoretical predictions. The use of magnetic field here instead of electric field allows precise measurements of some material constants and holds promise for wireless tuning of selective reflection.

Original languageEnglish
Article number042705
JournalPhysical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics
Volume94
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Oct 2016

Bibliographical note

This work was financially supported by NSF DMR-1307674, NSF Grant No. DMR-1410378, and AFOSR (Grant No. FA9550-12-1-0037). The work utilized the facilities of the NHMFL, which is supported by NSF DMR-0084173, the State of Florida, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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