Fast electric field switched 2D-photonic liquid crystals

We demonstrate field-induced 2D-photonic liquid crystals (LC). The 2D spatially periodic modulation of the LC director field is achieved using a geometry with two crossed interdigitated systems of electrodes located at opposite sides of the LC layer. With a special method of dual-field driving, a very fast switching between different spatially periodic LC director distributions is achieved. The director field distribution and potential use of these photonic crystals for fast switched multidirectional lasing is discussed.