Electro-optic switching of dielectrically negative nematic through nanosecond electric modification of order parameter (NEMOP)

TL;DR

This paper experimentally demonstrates nanosecond electric modification of the order parameter (NEMOP) in nematic materials, achieving rapid, high-birefringence electro-optic responses far surpassing traditional effects.

Contribution

It introduces NEMOP as a fast, high-performance electro-optic effect in nematics with negative dielectric anisotropy, with significantly improved figure of merit.

Findings

NEMOP achieves nanosecond response times with birefringence around 0.01.

FoM of NEMOP is about 10^4 μm^2/s, much higher than Frederiks effect.

Stronger NEMOP responses are observed in nematics with larger dielectric anisotropy.

Abstract

We present experimental studies of nanosecond electric modification of the order parameter (NEMOP) in a variety of nematic materials with negative dielectric anisotropy. The study demonstrates that NEMOP enables a large amplitude of fast (nanoseconds) electro-optic response with the field-induced birefringence on the order of 0.01 and a figure of merit (FoM) on the order of $10^4$ $\mu $m$^2/$s; the latter is orders of magnitude higher than the FoM of the Frederiks effect traditionally used in electro-optic nematic devices. The amplitude of the NEMOP response is generally stronger in nematics with larger dielectric anisotropy and with higher natural (field-free) birefringence.