Dynamically reprogrammable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry phase via ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals: a new paradigm for reconfigurable nonlinear optics

Shuang Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02086-4

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Dynamically reprogrammable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry phase via ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals: a new paradigm for reconfigurable nonlinear optics

News & Views

- Dynamically reprogrammable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry phase via ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals: a new paradigm for reconfigurable nonlinear optics
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 1, Pages: 14-16(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  2.Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Author bio：
  
  Shuang Zhang (shuzhang@hku.hk)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02086-4
  CLC：
- Published Online：02 January 2026，
  
  Published：31 January 2026
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Zhang, S. Dynamically reprogrammable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry phase via ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals: a new paradigm for reconfigurable nonlinear optics. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 14-16 (2026).
DOI：

Zhang, S. Dynamically reprogrammable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry phase via ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals: a new paradigm for reconfigurable nonlinear optics. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 14-16 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02086-4.

摘要

Abstract

A dynamically programmable

nonlinear beam-shaping and steering system is demonstrated

based on photopatterned

electrically controlled

ion-doped liquid ferroelectrics. This innovative approach elevates the linear liquid-crystal Pancharatnam–Berry optics to the reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam–Berry optics regime

creating new possibilities for dynamic light-matter interactions

multiplexing holography

tunable quantum optics

and many other reconfigurable photonic applications.

关键词

Keywords

references

Chen, H. F. et al. Reconfigurable nonlinear Pancharatnam-Berry diffractive optics with photopatterned ferroelectric nematics. Light Sci. Appl. 14 , 314 (2025)..

Born, M. Über anisotrope flüssigkeiten: versuch einer theorie der flüssigen kristalle und des elektrischen kerr-effekts in flüssigkeiten. Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preußischen . Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berl. 30 , 614–650 (1916)..

Mandle, R. J., Cowling, S. J. & Goodby, J. W. A nematic to nematic transformation exhibited by a rod-like liquid crystal. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 19 , 11429–11435 (2017)..

Nishikawa, H. et al. A fluid liquid-crystal material with highly polar order. Adv. Mater. 29 , 1702354 (2017)..

Chen, X. et al. First-principles experimental demonstration o f ferroelectricity in a thermotropic nematic liquid crystal: polar domains and striking electro-optics. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117 , 14021–14031 (2020)..

Lucchetti, L. A new twist in ferroelectric liquids. Science 384 , 1067–1068 (2024)..

Karcz, J. et al. Spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in polar fluid-heliconicalferroelectric nematic phase. Science 384 , 1096–1099 (2024)..

Kumari, P. et al. Chiral ground states of ferroelectric liquid crystals. Science 383 , 1364–1368 (2024)..

Yang, J. D. et al. Flexoelectricity-driven toroidal polar topology in liquid-matter helielectrics. Nat. Phys. 20 , 991–1000 (2024)..

Caimi, F. et al. Fluid superscreening and polarization following in confined ferroelectric nematics. Nat. Phys. 19 , 1658–1666 (2023)..

Pan, J. T. et al. Nonlinear geometric phase coded ferroelectric nematic fluids for nonlinear soft-matter photonics. Nat. Commun. 15 , 8732 (2024)..

Sebastián, N. et al. Polarization patterning in ferroelectric nematic liquids via flexoelectric coupling. Nat. Commun. 14 , 3029 (2023)..

Cohen, E. et al. Geometric phase from Aharonov-Bohm to Pancharatnam-Berry and beyond. Nat. Rev. Phys. 1 , 437–449 (2019)..

He, C., Shen, Y. J. & Forbes, A. Towards higher-dimensional structured light. Light Sci. Appl. 11 , 205 (2022)..

Li, G. X., Zhang, S. & Zentgraf, T. Nonlinear photonic metasurfaces. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2 , 17010 (2017)..

Karnieli, A., Li, Y. Y. & Arie, A. The geometric phase in nonlinear frequency conversion. Front. Phys. 17 , 12301 (2022)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰