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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Optical Logic Element Using Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal with Electrical Feedback

Hiroshi Moritake, Akira Tagawa, Masanori Ozaki, Katsumi Yoshino

Published Sep 1, 1991• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical bistability in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) with an electrical feedback has been studied. The hysteresis in the transmission-voltage curve which is characteristic of SSFLC is found to contribute to the expansion of the optical bistable region. Dynamic characteristics of the switching between optical bistable states by an incident light pulse have also been studied. A new multilogic element with both OR and AND functions which can be selected by controlling the duration of the reset light pulse can be realized.

DOI
10.1143/jjap.30.2373

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Optical bistability has been observed in a new configuration consisting of a nematic liquid crystal (ROTN 403) and a photorefractive crystal (KNbO3). The nematic liquid crystal (NLC), placed between crossed polarizers, serves as an optically controlled gate. The transmitted signal beam is amplified by photorefractive two-wave mixing and sent back onto the NLC in such a way that it changes the transmission of the gate. Bistability of the optical signal in the feedback loop with a large hysteresis is found. The bistable hysteresis curve depends on the nonlinearities of the NLC and of the photorefractive crystal, on the intensity of the storage beam and on the losses in the feedback loop.
The properties of intrinsic optical bistability in nematic liquid crystals were studied. This kind of optical bistability is without resonant optical cavity and electric feedback. We find that the nematic ROTN-200 film can exhibit bistability when applying a constant ac electric field (≊560 kHz) that is greater than a tricritical voltage VTc=2.614 V. The bistable interval is measured and the hysteresis loop is characterized at each different voltage. The splay and bent elastic constants k11 and k33 are obtained to calculate the numerical result. It is found that the experimental results are in good agreement with theory. The experimental setup with which we can easily observe the bistable phenomena is illustrated. Under the consideration of the finite size of the laser beam, the thermal effect and finite beam size effect are discussed. In addition, some new interesting phenomena about the diffraction ring structure of nematic liquid crystal are reported.
A design for obtaining memory in optical bistability with liquid crystals is reported. This design uses optical feedback on a twisted nematie liquid crystal ( TNLC ) through an optoelectronic system. A constant input light is the read-out and its value depends on the desired initial working point, usually at the bottom of the T(V) vs. V curve. Light levels depend on the feedback. An input light pulse change the working point to the top of the transmission curve. When this pulse vanishes, the working point remains at the upper part of the curve. Hence a memory function is obtained. Minimum pulse width needed was 1msec. ON-OPF ratio was 100:3.
Abstract We have evaluated a number of photon modulations using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer combined with a surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) device for optical phase control. By varying the applied voltage to the SSFLC, a clear change in the detected number of photons was observed. Statistical analysis of the photon counts revealed that the weak optical field followed the Poisson distributions with two distinct mean numbers of photons, corresponding to the two voltage-induced states of the SSFLC. This result suggests the probabilistic nature of independently emitted laser photons and demonstrates that such discrete photon statistics can be achieved via binary voltage control of the SSFLC.