Applied Nanophotonics, Liquid Crystals and Biomedical Optics

Recently a new mode of liquid crystal LC SW was developed based on the doping of nanoporous microparticles in LCs called NMP-LC mode. However, all the works reported so far used an LC with positive dielectric anisotropy that gave a normally opaque window. Here we report on a normally transparent smart window based on NMP-LC mode using vertical alignment and an LC with negative dielectric anisotropy, doped with cochleate organic particles. The device exhibits a high transparency in the OFF state and a high scattering in the ON state compared with normally opaque NMP-LC. The durability test shows that the SW device switches at least 5184 times without degradation of optical contrast. The scattering mode is caused by the combination of two effects: the NMP effect and the electro-hydrodynamic instability effect. The synergy between these two effects manifests in lower operating voltage and frequency requirements for the device, hence less energy consumption. The electric power that is needed is estimated to be 0.25