Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 967–970 (1999)Liquid-Crystal Photonic-Band-Gap Materials: The Tunable Electromagnetic Vacuum
See accompanying Physics Focus We demonstrate that when an optically birefringent nematic liquid crystal is infiltrated into the void regions of an inverse opal, photonic-band-gap (PBG) material, the resulting composite material exhibits a completely tunable PBG. In particular, the three-dimensional PBG can be completely opened or closed by applying an electric field which rotates the axis of the nematic molecules relative to the inverse opal backbone. Tunable light localization effects may be realized by controlling the orientational disorder in the nematic. © 1999 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.967
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.967
PACS:
42.70.Qs, 42.70.Df
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