Tunable hybrid liquid crystal metamaterials for photonic applications

Abstract: Metamaterials (MMs) in optics represent a large class of nano-structured artificial media with optical characteristics superior to those exhibited by natural materials. Developing an efficient technology for active control over MM exotic optical response is an essential step towards their practical application. One of the methods to achieve tunable MMs is to functionalise the fabric photonic materials with liquid crystals (LCs), where the MM properties are tuned by changing the LC optical anisotropy with external voltage or light/temperature. In our work we experimentally demonstrated the full potential of electrical tuning of the elastic LC photonic MM, where we combined mechanical properties of electro-mechanical systems with LCs.