Polarization independent blue phase liquid crystal gratings based on periodic polymer slices structure

A polarization independent switchable phase grating based on polymer stabilized blue phase liquid crystal is proposed. A high efficiency of the phase grating has been achieved because of the sharp rectangular phase profile which shows good agreement with the simulation results. The diffraction efficiency of the 1st order is 38%, the response time is in the submillisecond range, and the phase grating is independent of the polarization of the incident light. The voltage-induced hysteresis characteristics are also investigated. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.