Electrically tunable laser based on oblique heliconical cholesteric liquid crystal

Significance Liquid-crystal lasers based on micrometer-scale self-organization of organic molecules into the so-called cholesteric liquid crystal are simple to manufacture; they are small in size and low in cost and power consumption. Their potential applications range from sensing and imaging to informational displays and miniature “lab-on-a-chip” devices. We report a cholesteric structure used as the laser’s resonator cavity that enables a continuous real-time tuning of the emitted wavelength in a very broad range by applying an electric field. The structure is heliconical, with the molecules rotating around a helical axis and being tilted toward this axis. The electric field controls the tilt and the pitch, thus changing the wavelength by at least 100 nm.