We demonstrate a method to directly measure the electric-field-induced birefringence of a polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystal (PS-BPLC) composite. The induced birefringence follows the extended Kerr effect well and is approximately 3X the ordinary refractive index change. The measured data are validated by comparing the simulated and measured voltage-dependent transmittance with an in-...

High birefringence and low viscosity isothiocyanate liquid crystal single compounds, and eutectic mixtures based solely on unsaturated rigid core structures, are reported. Extraordinarily high values of figure-of-merit were observed at room temperature for the formulated nematic mixtures. Potential applications of such mixtures for laser beam steering at l51.55mm using optical phased arrays are...

We present micro-scale stressors written in bulk silica using an ultrafast laser. Stress from nanograting formation produces optical retardance, which is then tailored through control of the orientation, magnitude, and anisotropy of the stress field. OCIS codes: (260.1440) Birefringence; (160.6030) Silica

Abstract All-optical vacuum birefringence experiments will get increasingly closer to feasibility as multi-petawatt laser facilities become operational around the World. Thus, availability of focused intensities in order I L ∼ 10 22 −10 24 W/cm 2 are be expected a spot size 3 − 5 μ m. With these values, refraction indices Δ n −11 −9 possible with an induced phase delay on counterpropagating opt...

In this paper we develop a simple micromechanical model of a prestressed polycrystalline aggregate, in which the texture-induced and stress-induced anisotropies of the aggregate are precisely de ned; here the word \texture" always refers to the texture of the aggregate at the given prestressed con guration, not to that of a perhaps ctitious natural state of the aggregate. We use this model to d...

Applications of single-mode fibers to coherent optical fiber communication systems1 and fiber sensor systems2 require a definite state of polarization along the fiber length. Polarization-maintaining fibers such as elliptically clad3 and stress-applied4 single-mode fibers have a high internal birefringence that exceeds perturbing birefringence and produces linear polarization along the fiber. O...

A novel optical fiber current sensor for low-current measurements is proposed and tested. By winding a commonly used low-birefringence single-mode optical fiber in a special geometry, one can circumvent the bend-induced birefringence problem. Smaller sensors can now be built with a sensitivity that linearly increases with the number of fiber windings.