Optoelectronic behaviour of the liquid crystals doped quantum dots in laser standing evanescent wave fields

To improve the optoelectronic properties for the photorefractive devices can enable the wide application of nanostructured liquid crystal (LC) in optical information processing, optical imaging, and optical modulating systems. Especially, the quantum dots (QDs) based on photorefractive effect plays a key role in improving the energy efficiency and color quality for their ability to modify the properties of the bulk materials. In this paper, we propose a QD-doped LC device illuminated by a laser standing evanescent wave (LSEW) field with sub-wavelength period of 180 nm. Combined with the electric tuning, the obtained optical diffraction pattern of equally spaced light spots indicated that a regular, periodic grating was formed in the QD-doped LC volume. The measured maximum diffraction efficiency of 30 % identified the large change of the refractive index of the nanostructured QD-doped LC device. Our results demonstrate a novel method to design and fabricate rewritable optoelectronic devices with highly precise controlled photorefractive LC structures.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel method was proposed to design and fabricate optoelectronic devices with highly precise controlled photorefractive liquid crystal structures. By utilizing quantum dots and electric tuning, a regular periodic grating was formed in a quantum dot-doped liquid crystal volume illuminated by a laser standing evanescent wave field. The obtained optical diffraction pattern showed equally spaced light spots and high diffraction efficiency, indicating a significant change in the refractive index of the nanostructured device.