Field-realigned nematic-liquid-crystal optical waveguides

An external electric field exerts volume torque on the nematic liquid crystal due to the anisotropic molecular polarizability and tends to reorient the molecular axes. Phase-velocity tuning in these materials is thus possible. Eigenmodes of thin-film liquid-crystal waveguides are analyzed by a numerical method. A three-layer model of the waveguides is found to be in good agreement with the measured data, thus providing a simplified model for conceptual thinking as well as for computation.