The interplay between gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and liquid crystals (LCs) opens compelling solutions that produce a win-win solution for both classes of materials. AuNPs are successfully utilised to induce controlled phase change LCs and, simultaneously, make an active control the optical properties. LC plasmonics generates hybrid materials could revolutionise next-generation photonic applicat...

The photonic band gap of a two-dimensional photonic crystal is continuously tuned using the temperature dependent refractive index of a liquid crystal. Liquid crystal E7 was infiltrated into the air pores of a macroporous silicon photonic crystal with a triangular lattice pitch of 1.58 mm and a band gap wavelength range of 3.3–5.7 mm. After infiltration, the band gap for the H polarized field s...