Low absorption chlorinated liquid crystals for infrared applications

We report a wide nematic range and low absorption loss chlorinated liquid crystal mixture, designated as IR-M2, for mid-wave infrared applications. IR-M2 is quite transparent in the 3.8-5.0 μm window while keeping a high birefringence (Δn~0.194) in the infrared region and a modest dielectric anisotropy. For long-wave infrared applications, we propose another high Δn chlorinated cyanoterphenyl compound. ©2015 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (160.3710) Liquid crystals; (260.3060) Infrared. References and links 1. M. Schadt, “Milestone in the history of field-effect liquid crystal displays and materials,” Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 48, 03B001 (2009). 2. F. Peng, D. Xu, H. Chen, and S.-T. Wu, “Low voltage polymer network liquid crystal for infrared spatial light modulators,” Opt. Express 23(3), 2361–2368 (2015). 3. P. F. McManamon, T. A. Dorschner, D. L. Corkum, L. J. Friedman, D. S. Hobbs, M. Holz, S. Liberman, H. Q. Nguyen, D. P. Resler, R. C. Sharp, and E. A. Watson, “Optical phased array technology,” Proc. IEEE 84(2), 268– 298 (1996). 4. S. T. Wu, J. D. Margerum, H. B. Meng, C. S. Hsu, and L. R. Dalton, “Potential liquid crystal mixtures for CO2 laser application,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 64(10), 1204–1206 (1994). 5. D. Dolfi, M. Labeyrie, P. Joffre, and J. P. Huignard, “Liquid crystal microwave phase shifter,” Electron. Lett. 29(10), 926–928 (1993). 6. K. C. Lim, J. D. Margerum, and A. M. Lackner, “Liquid crystal millimeter wave electronic phase shifter,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 62(10), 1065–1067 (1993). 7. C.-F. Hsieh, R.-P. Pan, T.-T. Tang, H.-L. Chen, and C.-L. Pan, “Voltage-controlled liquid-crystal terahertz phase shifter and quarter-wave plate,” Opt. Lett. 31(8), 1112–1114 (2006). 8. X. Lin, J. Wu, W. Hu, Z. Zheng, Z. Wu, G. Zhu, F. Xu, B. Jin, and Y. Lu, “Self-polarizing terahertz liquid crystal phase shifter,” AIP Adv. 1(3), 032133 (2011). 9. R. Dąbrowski, P. Kula, and J. Herman, “High birefringence liquid crystals,” Crystals 3(3), 443–482 (2013). 10. S. R. Davis, G. Farca, S. D. Rommel, S. Johnson, and M. H. Anderson, “Liquid crystal waveguides: new devices enabled by >1000 waves of optical phase control,” Proc. SPIE 7618, E1–E14 (2010). 11. S.-T. Wu, “Absorption measurements of liquid crystals in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared,” J. Appl. Phys. 84(8), 4462–4465 (1998). 12. S.-T. Wu, “Infrared properties of nematic liquid crystals: an overview,” Opt. Eng. 26(2), 120–128 (1987). 13. S.-T. Wu, Q.-H. Wang, M. D. Kempe, and J. A. Kornfield, “Perdeuterated cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals for infrared applications,” J. Appl. Phys. 92(12), 7146–7148 (2002). 14. B. Mistry, A Handbook of Spectroscopic Data Chemistry: UV, IR, PMR, CNMR and Mass Spectroscopy (Oxford, 2009). 15. G. W. Gray and A. Mosley, “The synthesis of deuteriated 4-n-alkyl-4-cyanobiphenyls,” Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. (Phila. Pa.) 48(3–4), 233–242 (1978). 16. Y. Chen, H. Xianyu, J. Sun, P. Kula, R. Dabrowski, S. Tripathi, R. J. Twieg, and S.-T. Wu, “Low absorption liquid crystals for mid-wave infrared applications,” Opt. Express 19(11), 10843–10848 (2011). 17. F. Peng, Y. Chen, S.-T. Wu, S. Tripathi, and R. J. Twieg, “Low loss liquid crystals for infrared applications,” Liq. Cryst. 41(11), 1545–1552 (2014). 18. F. Peng, H. Chen, S. Tripathi, R. J. Twieg, and S.-T. Wu, “Fast-response infrared phase modulator based on polymer network liquid crystal,” Opt. Mater. Express 5(2), 265–273 (2015). 19. S.-T. Wu, U. Efron, and L. D. Hess, “Birefringence measurements of liquid crystals,” Appl. Opt. 23(21), 3911– 3915 (1984). 20. I. Haller, “Thermodynamic and static properties of liquid crystals,” Prog. Solid State Chem. 10, 103–118 (1975). #237732 $15.00 USD Received 10 Apr 2015; revised 30 Apr 2015; accepted 4 May 2015; published 5 May 2015 (C) 2015 OSA 1 Jun 2015 | Vol. 5, No. 6 | DOI:10.1364/OME.5.001281 | OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS 1281 21. S. T. Wu, U. Efron, and L. D. Hess, “Infrared birefringence of liquid crystals,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 44(11), 1033– 1035 (1984). 22. S.-T. Wu, “Birefringence dispersions of liquid crystals,” Phys. Rev. A 33(2), 1270–1274 (1986). 23. S.-T. Wu and C.-S. Wu, “Experimental confirmation of the Osipov-Terentjev theory on the viscosity of nematic liquid crystals,” Phys. Rev. A 42(4), 2219–2227 (1990).