Ways of increasing the response rate of electrically controlled optical devices based on nematic liquid crystals

This review is devoted to the problem of increasing the response rate of liquid-crystal (LC) devices based on nematic liquid crystals (NLCs), such as optical switches, modulators, adjustable attenuators, and stabilizers for the near-IR region. Along with well-known methods such as the regime in which devices operate with displacement and dual-frequency addressing of NLCs with sign inversion of the dielectric anisotropy, which makes it possible to control the relaxation process, the possibility of accelerating the operation by using polymer-dispersed and polymer-stabilized LC mixtures is considered. It is shown to be necessary to optimize the supply regimes of the LC devices. The dynamic responses of devices that use the electrooptic S and twist effects are compared. The prospects of using NLC devices as active components of optical-fiber networks are considered. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America.