Soft Matter Macro and Micro-Photonics workshop

Laser writing reconfigurable optics into liquid crystals

Stephen M. Morris, Camron Nourshargh, Alec Xu, Tianxin Wang, Zhiyu Xu, Steve J. Elston, and Martin J. Booth Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX3 1PJ, UK

In this presentation, I will report recent advances in the fabrication of optical elements within polymerizable liquid crystals (LCs) using a bespoke two-photon polymerization direct laser writing platform [1 – 9]. This approach enables the creation of spatially localized polymer networks within nematic LCs, providing a powerful route to engineer complex, spatially varying refractive index landscapes.

By carrying out fabrication under an applied electric field, we achieve precise control over LC director alignment, unlocking a broad range of tunable electro-optic functionalities. Using this strategy, we demonstrate the fabrication of diverse optical elements, including one- and two-dimensional diffraction gratings [1-3], computer-generated holograms [1], optical vortex generators [5], waveguides [6], and Fresnel zone plates [7, 8].

We further show that multiple optical elements can be integrated within a single device, with selective activation and deactivation controlled via applied voltage, or cascaded to achieve polarization-insensitive or polarization-selective responses [3, 7]. In addition, we explore the combination of single- and two-photon polymerization to enable scalable, large-area fabrication while preserving high-resolution feature definition [9].

Finally, we demonstrate the potential of these structures in compact, miniaturized, and reconfigurable optical systems, including tunable aberration correction [4] for advanced imaging and microscopy.

[1] J. Sandford O'Neill et al. Advanced Optical Materials 10, 2102446 (2022)

[2] B. Chen et al. Crystals 12, 1340 (2022)

[3] Z. Zhao et al. Advanced Materials Technologies 8, 2200861 (2023)

[4] A. Xu et al. ACS Photonics 10, 340 (2023)

[5] C. Nourshargh et al. Nanophotonics 13, 3091 (2024)

[6] B. Chen et al. Ultrafast Science 4, 1 (2024)

[7] Z. Xu et al. ACS Photonics 13, 47 (2026)

[8] Z. Xu et al. Light: Science & Applications (2026)

[9] A. Pradeep, et al. Small Methods (2026)