Transmission of planar layers of cholesteric liquid crystals is studied in pulsed electric fields perpendicular to the helix axis at normal incidence of both linearly polarized and unpolarized light. Spectral and light polarization properties of the primary photonic band and the field-induced bands up to fourth order of Bragg selective reflection are studied in detail. In our experiments we have achieved an electric field strength several times higher than the theoretical values corresponding to the critical field of full helix unwinding. However, the experiments show that despite the high strength of the electric field applied the helix does not unwind, but strongly deforms, keeping its initial spatial period. Strong helix deformation results in distinct spectral band splitting, as well as very high field-induced selective reflectance that can be applied in lasers and other optoelectronic devices. Peculiarities of inducing and splitting the bands are discussed in terms of the scattering coefficient approach. All observed effects are confirmed by numerical simulations. The simulations also show that liquid crystal surface anchoring is not the factor that prevents the helix unwinding. Thus, the currently acknowledged concept of continuous helix unwinding in the electric field should be reconsidered.

The effective Debye temperature of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) copolymers was measured using photoemission and neutron diffraction techniques. An effective Debye temperature of $\text{53±11\hspace{0.05em}}\mathrm{K}$ is obtained from the photoemission data and $\text{69±3.5\hspace{0.05em}}\mathrm{K}$ from neutron diffraction measurements. This effective Debye temperature is a consequence of the temperature-dependent dynamic motions perpendicular to the surface of these crystalline polymer films.

The interface between aluminum and crystalline copolymer thin film of vinylidene fluoride (70%) with trifluoroethylene (30%) [PVDF-TrFE] has been studied. The ratio of carbon 1s and aluminum 2p core level photoemission peak intensities changes little with increasing emission angle after deposition of 5 Å aluminum on the surface of PVDF-TrFE. This indicates that the distribution of aluminum atoms in the copolymer film is quite uniform in the near surface region and that the interface between PVDF-TrFE and aluminum is not abrupt. There is evidence for changes in photohole screening with aluminum doping within the polymer film.

Waveguide optical properties of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer with a deformed lying helix (DLH) have been studied by numerical simulations using the finite difference time domain method. The DLH structure, when the helix’s axis is oriented in plane of a CLC layer, is induced by an electric field in a virtual CLC cell with periodic (planar/homeotropic) boundary conditions at one of the alignment surfaces. This in-plane helical structure is stable only in a permanently applied electric field providing the helix deformation. In this work the polarized light reflectance spectra have been studied at different electric fields and light impingement into a waveguide formed by the DLH layer. It is found that for light propagating along the helix axis the reflectance spectrum has multiple stop-bands centred at wavelengths ${\lambda }_j=\frac{2p⟨n⟩}{j}$ , which is different from set of bands located at ${\lambda }_j=\frac{p⟨n⟩}{j}$ , and characteristic of CLC spectra for the Grandjean-plane textures subjected to distortion by an electric or magnetic field perpendicular to the helix axis, where j is a natural number, p is the helix pitch and $⟨n⟩$ is the average refractive index. Each of the higher order (j > 1) bands consists of three polarization-dependent sub-bands. In the case of an amplifying CLC DLH layer, depending on an extent of the helix deformation, the lasing modes can be excited at different edges of the sub-bands. While at the strongest deformation the lasing is preferable at the edges of the central sub-band; a lower extent of deformation makes favourable conditions for the lasing at edges of the two other sub-bands.

The field-induced orientational transition in layers of cholesteric liquid crystals with spatially periodic modulation of the surface anchoring is studied by numerical simulations and experimentally. The modulation of the surface anchoring is implemented using high-resolution focused ion-beam treatment of a polymer film providing planar alignment conditions. A specific feature of the orientational transition is that the thermodynamically stable initial planar structure with the helix axis along the normal to the layer transforms under an electric field into an equilibrium structure with a deformed lying helix (DLH) in the plane of the layer. For such a transition to occur the natural pitch of the cholesteric helix must be substantially less than the anchoring modulation period. The appearance of the DLH with a pitch corresponding to the anchoring modulation period results in strongly enhanced first-order diffraction efficiency. The orientational DLH transition is characterised by a rather narrow driving voltage range with a pronounced hysteresis. The waveguide lasing effect with characteristic of the deformed helix spectral modes is demonstrated in a range of the DLH transition.

A new method of investigation of photoelectric properties of layered thin-film structures based on broadband Fourier spectroscopy exhibiting a harmonically modulated optical delay is proposed. In...