Soft Matter Macro and Micro-Photonics workshop

Microstructured liquid crystal planar optics

Wei Hu
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023 China
huwei@nju.edu.cn ; lcp.nju.edu.cn 

Liquid crystal (LC) has demonstrated its practicality in information displays. However, when LC elements are adopted to other information techniques such as satellite-based internet, the Internet of Things, and the new generation of optical communications, they still face three major challenges: precise construction of microstructures, high-dimensional optical field manipulation, and extension of working bands as well as functionalities. Some progresses towards overcoming these challenges are presented:
1. A photo-patterning technique is invented and a biphasic associated topological evolution is proposed, overcoming the challenging precise construction of entropy-driven LC organization.
2. A mapping relationship between the LC hierarchical structures and optical field parameters is established, achieving independent modulation of separate degrees of freedom of light.
3. The working band is extended to infrared and terahertz, and new elements are developed in areas such as beam steering, optical encryption, and green energy.

Above works explore the intrinsic multi-dimensional and large-scale parallel processing superierreities of light, and make it possible to use single-layer planar optical components to replace traditional complex optical paths for dynamic and programmable functions.

Finaly, I’d like to share my vision on AI + LC photonics. AI, as a powerful tool, is expected to accelerate the mechanism explornations towards complicated and non-equilibrium LC selforganized systems, as well as the reasonalbe expectations and reverse design of microstructured LC planar optics. On the contrary, LC photonics will advance applications such as optical edge detections, mode recognitions, and optical deep neural networks.