Colossal optical nonlinear effects in the nematic-isotropic temperature transition in azo dye-doped liquid crystals

I. Lazo-Martinez; I. Guizar-Iturbide; A. Olivares-Perez; C. G. Trevino-Palacios; R. Ramos-Garcia

doi:10.1117/12.615504

30 August 2005 Colossal optical nonlinear effects at the nematic-isotropic temperature transition in azo dye-doped liquid crystals

I. Lazo-Martinez, I. Guizar-Iturbide, A. Olivares-Perez, C. G. Trevino-Palacios, R. Ramos-Garcia

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5936, Liquid Crystals IX; 59360Y (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615504
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We report a new class of colossal nonlinear effects observed at the nematic-isotropic temperature transition. Large diffraction efficiency (30%) and colossal nonlinear refractive index (n₂≈200 cm²/W) has been measured in randomly oriented thin (1 μm) films of 5CB liquid crystals doped with small quantities of the azo dye methyl red (1% wt). Additionally, the dye reduces the phase transition temperature of the liquid crystal by almost 4 degrees C. We also found that ITO-coated glass substrate gives larger diffraction efficiency than those where only glass was used.

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I. Lazo-Martinez, I. Guizar-Iturbide, A. Olivares-Perez, C. G. Trevino-Palacios, and R. Ramos-Garcia "Colossal optical nonlinear effects at the nematic-isotropic temperature transition in azo dye-doped liquid crystals", Proc. SPIE 5936, Liquid Crystals IX, 59360Y (30 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615504

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