Abstract

A detailed analysis of two-dimensional liquid crystalline grating cells is presented. Crossed liquid crystalline gratings were prepared using two kinds of photo-alignment polymers, i.e., poly(vinyl cinnamate) (PVCi) and photocrosslinkable polymer liquid crystal (PCLC). The effects of the anchoring strength of photo-alignment polymer films and crossing angles of grating vectors on one pair of photo-alignment substrates were extensively investigated using elastic continuum analysis, Jones calculus, and diffraction theory. The anchoring strength of our PCLC film was sufficiently strong, and experimental observation was in good agreement with the theoretical values obtained assuming the strong anchoring (fixed boundary conditions), although PCLC still has limits with the capability of photo-alignment of the low-molar-mass liquid crystals.

© 2009 Optical Society of America

Effects of phase shift between two photo-alignment substrates on diffraction properties in liquid crystalline grating cells

Hiroshi Ono, Takeshi Shinmachi, Akira Emoto, Tatsutoshi Shioda, and Nobuhiro Kawatsuki
Appl. Opt. 48(2) 309-315 (2009)

Simple fabrication of liquid crystalline grating cells with homogeneous and twisted nematic structures and effects of orientational relaxation on diffraction properties

Kotaro Kawai, Tomoyuki Sasaki, Kohei Noda, Nobuhiro Kawatsuki, and Hiroshi Ono
Appl. Opt. 53(17) 3679-3686 (2014)

Holographic binary grating liquid crystal cells fabricated by one-step exposure of photocrosslinkable polymer liquid crystalline alignment substrates to a polarization interference ultraviolet beam

Kotaro Kawai, Tomoyuki Sasaki, Kohei Noda, Moritsugu Sakamoto, Nobuhiro Kawatsuki, and Hiroshi Ono
Appl. Opt. 54(19) 6010-6018 (2015)

Diffraction properties of a vector grating liquid crystal cell fabricated using a one-step exposure of a nonorthogonal elliptically polarized interference beam

Kotaro Kawai, Tomoyuki Sasaki, Moritsugu Sakamoto, Kohei Noda, Nobuhiro Kawatsuki, and Hiroshi Ono
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 32(12) 2435-2440 (2015)

Photoalignment anchoring energy of photocrosslinkable liquid crystalline polymers doped in nematic liquid crystals

Tomoyuki Sasaki, Takashi Shoho, Tran Minh Tien, Kohei Goto, Moritsugu Sakamoto, Kohei Noda, Nobuhiro Kawatsuki, and Hiroshi Ono
Opt. Mater. Express 6(8) 2521-2529 (2016)