High birefringence liquid crystals for photonic applications

High birefringence liquid crystals (LCs) play an important role for laser beam steering, tunable-focus lens, reflective display, cholesteric LC laser, infrared dynamic scene projector, and telecom variable optical attenuator applications. We have developed some high birefringence compounds and eutectic mixtures with birefringence in the 0.4-0.7 range. For some photonic devices where response time is critical, we have also developed high birefringence dual-frequency LC mixtures. The cross-over frequency is around 5-10 kHz. Using such a dual-frequency LC mixture, sub-millisecond response time is achieved.