title: Optically isotropic, electrically tunable liquid crystal droplet arrays formed by photopolymerization-induced phase separation.
abstract: Phase separation has been an interesting and important topic in liquid crystal (LC)-polymer composites. We investigated the photopolymerization-induced phase separation in an LC-polymer composite through a maskless lithographic system based on an amplitude-modulated spatial light modulator. By optimizing both exposure conditions and materials, we achieved a two-dimensional (2D) liquid crystal droplet array (LCDA) in the LC-polymer composite. Further investigations revealed that such 2D LCDAs, working as microlens arrays, demonstrated polarization-independent, electrically tunable focusing properties under a certain voltage. With advantages in cost-effectiveness, fast fabrication, and polarization-independent, electrically tunable focusing, such phase-separated microlens arrays in the LC-polymer composite could find many potential optical applications.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Guangyuan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Si
authors.forename: Yan Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Liu