Numerical Studies of One-Dimensional Gratings of Heliconical Liquid Crystals

Numerical Studies of One-Dimensional Gratings of Heliconical Liquid Crystals

 

Sha Liu, Hao Yu, Miao Jiang, Qi-Huo Wei

Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China

Corresponding author: weiqh@sustech.edu.cn

 

In this work, we numerically study one-dimensional gratings made of heliconical liquid crystals by using finite-difference time-domain approach. In the gratings, the molecular orientations at the surface are varied periodically in one direction. In interestingly, we found that in contrast to what observed in typical cholesteric liquid crystals, the heliconical gratings exhibit two reflection bands, one corresponds to the band wavelengths of the heliconical liquid crystals, the other is at exactly twice the band wavelengths. We will present the physical mechanisms behind this phenomenon.

 

Key words: Heliconical liquid crystal, finite-difference time-domain