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Abstract
We report experimental results about the bistability effect given by the light induced creation of an isotropic hole in a 90° twisted nematic liquid crystal cell between two crossed polarizers. The twisted structure acts as a polarization rotator so that the device is initially transparent, but becomes opaque if the twisted structure is broken, due to liquid crystal nematic-isotropic phase transition. The effect can be electrically driven controlling the nematic director configuration inside the cell.