Nonlinear Optics and Integrated Optical Switching with Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Waveguides

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The proposed research will develop ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) waveguide components for optical switching, beam steering, and non- linear optics (NLO) applications. The optical switching and beam steering FLC components will take advantage of the fast switching, the low power consumption and the large electro-optic effect of FLCs. The switches will be small in size and can be densely packed to yield large switch arrays which can be continuously reconfigured without encountering the limitations of power dissipation or size that hinder other approaches. The beam steerer will have large deflections and a large number of addressable angles using low drive voltages. The FLC NLO components will utilize the permanent polar order of the smectic C* state to orient the molecular hyperpolarizability of the FLC molecules, resulting in a medium with a thermodynamically stable 2 non-linear susceptibility. The 2FLC medium can be used to frequency double near infrared radiation from a laser diode. The proposed phase I research will develop waveguide technology for FLCL thin films. In phase II, the FLC wave guides will be incorporated into beam steerer, optical interconnection switches, and media for second harmonic generation.