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Chiral switches bring new twist to photonics

Nature Photonics volume 16, pages 174–175 (2022)Cite this article

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A liquid crystal doped with a diarylethene enantiomer can be switched by light into stable reflection states of different colour, creating new opportunities for lasing and labelling.

It has long been known that the helicoidal structure of chiral nematic liquid crystals (LCs) (regularly referred to by their historical name, cholesteric LCs) gives rise to a rich variety of optical and electro-optical phenomena1. For example, when the pitch is of the order of the wavelength of light, the chiral superstructure acts as a one-dimensional photonic bandgap (PBG) when light propagates parallel to the helix axis1. The PBG of chiral nematic LC forms the basis of numerous technologies such as coloured reflective displays2 and thin-film LC lasers3. Furthermore, this one-dimensional PBG is partial in the sense that it only reflects light with a circular polarization that matches the handedness of the helical structure. Because of the sensitivity of the PBG to polarization, this phenomenon has also been exploited for realizing new three-dimensional display technologies4.

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Fig. 1: Thermally robust and multistable tuning of the photonic bandgap (reflection band) of a chiral nematic liquid crystal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Bohan Chen, Zimo Zhao & Stephen M. Morris

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  1. Bohan Chen
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  2. Zimo Zhao
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  3. Stephen M. Morris
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Correspondence to Stephen M. Morris.

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Chen, B., Zhao, Z. & Morris, S.M. Chiral switches bring new twist to photonics. Nat. Photon. 16, 174–175 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-00967-3

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