Optical vector field rotation and switching with near-unity transmission by fully developed chiral photonic crystals
Chun‐Wei Chen, Iam Choon Khoo
Abstract
Significance We demonstrate by theory and experiments that a liquid crystal–based chiral photonic crystal (CPC), fabricated with a field-assisted molecular self-assembly technique to an unprecedented number ( N > 1,000) of unit cells, will achieve the full potentials of an ideal ( N → ∞) CPC. Such high- N CPCs possess large optical rotatory power with near-unity transmission, work equally well on lasers of simple or complex vector fields, and allow dynamic polarization switching and control by virtue of field-induced index/birefringence changing mechanisms at modest or ultrafast speeds. They are highly promising alternatives to current state-of-the-art polarization manipulation optics that exhibit giant optical rotatory power but are generally passive and beset with large optical loss.