title: Broad spectrum measurement of the birefringence of an isothiocyanate based liquid crystal.
abstract: Tunable materials with high anisotropy of refractive index and low loss are of particular interest in the microwave and terahertz range. Nematic liquid crystals are highly sensitive to electric and magnetic fields and may be designed to have particularly high birefringence. In this paper we investigate birefringence and absorption losses in an isothiocyanate based liquid crystal (designed for high anisotropy) in a broad range of the electromagnetic spectrum, namely 0.1-4 GHz, 30 GHz, 0.5-1.8 THz, and in the visible and near-infrared region (400 nm-1600 nm). We report high birefringence (Δn = 0.19-0.395) and low loss in this material. This is attractive for tunable microwave and terahertz device applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Advanced Photonics and Electronics, Engineering Department, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, UK. ot213@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Oksana
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Trushkevych
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Tianxin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: J Axel
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Zeitler
authors.forename: Rakchanok
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rungsawang
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gölden
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Collings
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Crossland