A photodriven dual-frequency addressable optical device

Abstract

We propose a photonic switch employing a liquid-crystalline material. The material exhibits a change in the sign of the dielectric anisotropy switching from a positive to a negative value at a certain crossover frequency. By application of an electric field this phenomenon can be used to alter the orientation of the sample between two orthogonal directions leading to a large change in the optical transmission characteristics of the medium. Here we demonstrate that this feature can be realized by an unpolarized ultraviolet UV beam, owing to the photoisomerization of the constituent azobenzene molecules. Possible usage of this for optically driven display devices and image-storage applications are suggested. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.