Optical switching of near infrared light transmission in metamaterial-liquid crystal cell structure

A metamaterial-liquid crystal cell structure is fabricated with the metamaterial as one of the liquid crystal alignment layers. Nano-sized double-split ring resonator in the metamaterial accommodates two distinct resonances in the near infrared regime. By adopting an azo-nematic liquid crystal in a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell structure, a photo-isomerization process is utilized to achieve an optical switching of light transmissions between two resonances. A single device of the metamaterial-liquid crystal cell structure has a potential application in the photonic switching in optical fiber telecommunications.