Fast flexoelectro-optic liquid-crystal phase-only modulators (Conference Presentation)

We have demonstrated a Liquid crystal (LC) analog phase modulator based on the flexoelectric-optic effect that can achieve full 2π phase modulation with sub-millisecond switching speed. The LC mixture in the device consists of the bimesogen CBC7CB with chiral dopant R5011 that can exhibit ±𝜋/4 rotation of the optic axis for an electric field of ±4.2Vμm^(-1). This is then converted to a ±π phase modulation with the aid of a chiral reflector and a quarter waveplate. The residual amplitude modulation is found to be very low, and we show how these elements can be combined to form a integrated device.