Impact of thickness of liquid crystal layer on response rate and exponential gain coefficient with assistance of ZnSe film

Appl Opt. 2014 Dec 20;53(36):8456-62. doi: 10.1364/AO.53.008456.

Abstract

A response time as short as 5.4 ms and an exponential gain coefficient as large as 1795.0 cm(-1) were obtained in C(60) doped 4,4'-n-pentylcyanobiphenyl liquid crystal cells sandwiched with two indium tin oxide glass plates coated with nanoscale photoconductive ZnSe films, which is believed to be facilitating charge-carrier generation and transportation and, hence, to be responsible for the fast response rate. The surface-mediated photorefractive effect and the ZnSe interlayers were both behind the high gain coefficients. The two-dimensional diffraction patterns observed in our system are also discussed.