Porous silicon encapsulated nematic liquid crystals for electro-optic applications

In this study we present the fabrication, the optical characterization and the electrical operation of a high quality, nanometer-sized, silicon-based light modulator made of nematic liquid crystals (LC) encapsulated into porous silicon (PSi) multilayer matrix. We first demonstrate the infiltration procedure and characterize the cell's reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) before and after infiltration. Then we examine the LC molecular alignment, and show that their long axis is positioned along the pore walls. Therefore, the electrical control of an interference filter is achieved by applying a field horizontal to the pore's directionality. We also demonstrate that by applying up to 10 V the molecules reorient, the effective refractive index is modulated by as much as Δn = 0.15, and the reflectance spectra is red shifted.