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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Self-alignment of liquid crystals in three-dimensional photonic crystals
Stefano Gottardo1, Matteo Burresi, Francesco Geobaldo
1European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy and INFM-MATIS, via Nello Carrara 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Florence), Italy. gottardo@lens.unifi.it
Abstract:
We report on the observation of self-alignment of nematic liquid crystals into colloidal photonic crystals, over distances much larger than the typical size of the voids between the spheres. We observe that the infiltrated structure possesses a unique optical axis that is determined by an intrinsic structural anisotropy of photonic crystal opals. We develop a simple model to describe this self-alignment based on the connectivity of the pores. The resulting structure constitutes a polarization dependent photonic crystal that can be controlled electrically.
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