Wide-angle switchable negative refraction in high birefringence nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

Negative refraction (NR) is a promising technique that provides an opportunity to manipulate beam behaviour. We have demonstrated experimentally the controllable NR with large refraction angle at visible wavelength in the novel high birefringence (Δn) liquid crystals. When the Δn of liquid crystal reaches 0.42, the NR angle and critical incident angle reach –14° and 23.2°, respectively, which are much larger than those achieved before by other liquid crystals. By applying the electric field, we control the switch from NR to positive.

Keywords:

• negative refraction
• nematic liquid crystal
• high birefringence
• low viscosity

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (11174274, 11174279, 61205021 and 11204299) and the Science Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Applied Optics.