title: Tunable lasing in cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers with accurate measurements of strain.
abstract: We report wide range and reversible tuning of the selective reflection band of a single crystal cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE). The tuning is the result of mechanical shortening of the helical pitch achieved by imposing a uniform uniaxial strain along the helical axis. On doping the CLCE sample with a laser dye, we observe lasing from the CLCE in both glassy and rubbery states. By changing the cholesteric pitch, mechanical compression provides tuning of the laser emission from the dye doped CLCE over a significant part of the fluorescence band of the laser dye. In this work we demonstrate for the first time that both the CLCE pitch and the lasing wavelength are linearly dependent on the strain imposed on the CLCE film.
authors.affiliation: Liquid Crystal Institute and Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: Andrii
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varanytsia
authors.affiliation: Department of Macromolecular Science &Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Hama
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.affiliation: Department of Macromolecular Science &Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Urayama
authors.affiliation: Liquid Crystal Institute and Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palffy-Muhoray