Enhancement of stability in optical switching of photosensitive liquid crystal by means of reflection mode analysis

Abstract

The optical switching behavior of azobenzene liquid crystals (LCs) was explored in terms of stability by means of reflection-mode analysis. The optical switching of the LC in the reflection-mode has been found to be repeated over 10 000 cycles, which is 10 times as stable as that obtained in the transmission-mode analysis although the same chromophore was used. It was found that the optimization of the optical system for material used is an effective approach to realize more stable optical switching.