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Updated: May 18, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Photoinduced local heating in silica photonic crystals for fast and reversible switching
Francisco Gallego-Gómez1, Alvaro Blanco, Cefe López
1Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, C/Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 3, 28049 Madrid, Spain. francisco.gallego@icmm.csic.es
Abstract:
Fast and reversible photonic-bandgap tunability is achieved in silica artificial opals by local heating. The effect is fully reversible as heat rapidly dissipates through the non-irradiated structure without active cooling and water is readsorbed. The performance is strongly enhanced by decreasing the photoirradiated opal volume, allowing bandgap shifts of 12 nm and response times of 20 ms.
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