Electrical and thermal tuning of quality factor and free spectral range of optical resonance of nematic liquid crystal microdroplets.

Sofi, Junaid Ahmad; Mohiddon, M A; Dutta, N; Dhara, Surajit · Phys Rev E · 2017

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

We experimentally study the effect of temperature and electric field on the quality (Q) factor and free spectral range (FSR) of whispering-gallery-mode optical resonance of dye-doped nematic liquid crystal microdroplets. Both the Q factor and the FSR are highly sensitive to the temperature and electric field and are tunable. The Q factor decreases, whereas the FSR increases substantially, with increasing temperature and electric field. The variation of the Q factor and FSR is understood based on the change in the effective refractive index and the dynamic size of the microdroplets.