Geometric phase-encoded stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals for visualizing real-time remote monitoring: humidity sensing as a proof of concept

Shi-Long Li; Zhao-Yi Chen; Peng Chen; Wei Hu; Chaohong Huang; Sen-Sen Li; Xuejia Hu; Yan-Qing Lu; Lu-Jian Chen

doi:10.1038/s41377-023-01360-7

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Geometric phase-encoded stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals for visualizing real-time remote monitoring: humidity sensing as a proof of concept

Original Articles

- Geometric phase-encoded stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals for visualizing real-time remote monitoring: humidity sensing as a proof of concept
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 13, Issue 2, Pages: 283-293(2024)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Xiamen University, 361005 Xiamen, China
  2.College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, 210093 Nanjing, China
  3.Fujian Key Laboratory of Ultrafast Laser Technology and Applications, Xiamen University, 361005 Xiamen, China
- Author bio：
  
  Yan-Qing Lu (yqlu@nju.edu.cn)
  Lu-Jian Chen (lujianchen@xmu.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-023-01360-7
  CLC：
- Received：08 August 2023，
  
  Revised：04 December 2023，
  
  Accepted：2023-12-13，
  
  Published Online：24 January 2024，
  
  Published：29 February 2024
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Li, S. L. et al. Geometric phase-encoded stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals for visualizing real-time remote monitoring: humidity sensing as a proof of concept. Light: Science & Applications, 13, 283-293 (2024).
DOI：

Li, S. L. et al. Geometric phase-encoded stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals for visualizing real-time remote monitoring: humidity sensing as a proof of concept. Light: Science & Applications, 13, 283-293 (2024). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-023-01360-7.

摘要

Abstract

Liquid crystals are a vital component of modern photonics

and recent studies have demonstrated the exceptional sensing properties of stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals. However

existing choleste

ric liquid crystal-based sensors often rely on the naked eye perceptibility of structural color or the measurement of wavelength changes by spectrometric tools

which limits their practical applications. Therefore

developing a platform that produces recognizable sensing signals is critical. In this study

we present a visual sensing platform based on geometric phase encoding of stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystal polymers that generates real-time visual patterns

rather than frequency changes. To demonstrate this platform's effectiveness

we used a humidity-responsive cholesteric liquid crystal polymer film encoded with a

-plate pattern

which revealed that humidity causes a shape change in the vortex beam reflected from the encoded cholesteric liquid crystal polymers. Moreover

we developed a prototype platform towards remote humidity monitoring benefiting from the high directionality and long-range transmission properties of laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum. Our approach provides a novel sensing platform for cholesteric liquid crystals-based sensors that offers promising practical applications. The ability to generate recognizable sensing signals through visual patterns offers a new level of practicality in the sensing field with stimuli-responsive cholesteric liquid crystals. This platform might have significant implications for a broad readership and will be of interest to researchers working in the field of photonics and sensing technology.

关键词

Keywords

references

Nair, R. V. & Vijaya, R. Photonic crystal sensors: an overview. Prog. Quantum Electron. 34 , 89–134 (2010)..

Ge, J. P. & Yin, Y. D. Responsive photonic crystals. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 50 , 1492–1522 (2011)..

Li, T. et al. Recent advances in photonic crystal-based sensors. Coord. Chem. Rev. 475 , 214909 (2023)..

Wang, L., Urbas, A. M. & Li, Q. Nature-inspired emerging chiral liquid crystal nanostructures: from molecular self-assembly to DNA mesophase and nanocolloids. Adv. Mater. 32 , 1801335 (2020)..

Bisoyi, H. K. & Li, Q. Liquid crystals: versatile self-organized smart soft materials. Chem. Rev. 122 , 4887–4926 (2022)..

Zhang, X. et al. Liquid crystal-templated chiral nanomaterials: from chiral plasmonics to circularly polarized luminescence. Light Sci. Appl. 11 , 223 (2022)..

Zheng, Z. G. et al. Three-dimensional control of the helical axis of a chiral nematic liquid crystal by light. Nature 531 , 352–356 (2016)..

Sadati, M. et al. Prolate and oblate chiral liquid crystal spheroids. Sci. Adv. 6 , eaba6728 (2020)..

Salili, S. M. et al. Magnetically tunable selective reflectio n of light by heliconical cholesterics. Phys. Rev. E 94 , 042705 (2016)..

Liu, B. H. et al. Dynamically actuated soft heliconical architecture via frequency of electric fields. Nat. Commun. 13 , 2712 (2022)..

Stumpel, J. E., Broer, D. J. & Schenning, A. P. H. J. Stimuli-responsive photonic polymercoatings. Chem. Commun. 50 , 15839–15848 (2014)..

Mulder, D. J., Schenning, A. P. H. J. & Bastiaansen, C. W. M. Chiral-nematic liquid crystals as one dimensional photonic materials in optical sensors. J. Mater. Chem. C 2 , 6695–6705 (2014)..

Foelen, Y. & Schenning, A. P. H. J. Optical indicators based on structural colored polymers. Adv. Sci. 9 , 2200399 (2022)..

White, T. J. & Broer, D. J. Programmable and adaptive mechanics with liquid crystal polymer networks and elastomers. Nat. Mater. 14 , 1087–1098 (2015)..

Chiappelli, M. C. & Hayward, R. C. Photonic multilayer sensors from photo-crosslinkable polymer films. Adv. Mater. 24 , 6100–6104 (2012)..

De Haan, L. T. et al. Humidity-responsive liquid crystalline polymer actuators with an asymmetry in the molecular trigger that bend, fold, and curl. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136 , 10585–10588 (2014)..

Verpaalen, R. C. P. et al. Programmable helical twisting in oriented humidity-responsive bilayer films generated by spray-coating of a chiral nematic liquid crystal. J. Mater. Chem. A 6 , 17724–17729 (2018)..

Fang, Y. et al. Reconfigurable photonic crystals enabled by pressure-responsive shape-memory polymers. Nat. Commun. 6 , 7416 (2015)..

Shibaev, P. V., Schaumburg, K. & Plaksin, V. Responsive chiral hydrogen-bonded polymer composites. Chem. Mater. 14 , 959–961 (2002)..

Lova, P. et al. Label-free vapor selectivity in poly ( p -phenylene oxide) photonic crystal sensors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8 , 31941–31950 (2016)..

Lan, R.C. et al. Reversibly and irreversibly humidity-responsive motion of liquid crystalline network gated by SO 2 gas. Adv. Funct. Mater. 29 , 1900013 ( 2019)..

Chang, C. K. et al. Alcohol-responsive, hydrogen-bonded, cholesteric liquid-crystal networks. Adv. Funct. Mater. 22 , 2855–2859 (2012)..

Stumpel, J. E. et al. An optical sensor for volatile amines based on an inkjet-printed, hydrogen-bonded, cholesteric liquid crystalline film. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2 , 459–464 (2014)..

Moirangthem, M. et al. An optical sensor based on a photonic polymer film to detect calcium in serum. Adv. Funct. Mater. 26 , 1154–1160 (2016)..

Stroganov, V. et al. A novel type of crown ether-containing metal ions optical sensors based on polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystalline films. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 33 , 1875–1881 (2012)..

Berry, M. V. The adiabatic phase and pancharatnam's phase for polarized light. J. Mod. Opt. 34 , 1401–1407(1987)..

Barboza, R. et al. Berry phase of light under Bragg reflection by chiral liquid-crystal media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 , 053903 (2016)..

Kobashi, J., Yoshida, H. & Ozaki, M. Planar optics with patterned chiral liquid crystals. Nat. Photonics 10 , 389–392 (2016)..

Rafayelyan, M., Tkachenko, G. & Brasselet, E. Reflective spin–orbit geometric phase from chiral anisotropic optical media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 116 , 253902 (2016)..

Chen, P. et al. Chirality invertible superstructure mediated active planar optics. Nat. Commun. 10 , 2518 (2019)..

Chen, P. et al. Simultaneous realization of dynamic and hybrid multiplexed holography via light-activated chiral superstructures. Laser Photonics Rev. 16 , 2200011 (2022)..

Chen, P. et al. Liquid-crystal-mediated geometric phase: from transmissive to broadband reflective planar optics. Adv. Mater. 32 , 1903665 (2020)..

Xu, C. T. et al. Heliconical cholesterics endows spatial phase modulator with an electrically customizable working band. Adv. Opt. Mater. 10 , 2201088 (2022)..

Zhu, L. et al. Pancharatnam–Berry phase reversal v ia opposite-chirality-coexisted superstructures. Light Sci. Appl. 11 , 135 (2022)..

Weng, Y. S. et al. Polarization volume grating with high efficiency and large diffraction angle. Opt. Express 24 , 17746–17759 (2016)..

Weng, Y. S. et al. Liquid-crystal-based polarization volume grating applied for full-color waveguide displays. Opt. Lett. 43 , 5773–5776 (2018)..

Serak, S. V. et al. Diffractive waveplate arrays [Invited ] . J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 34 , B56–B63 (2017)..

Wei, B. Y. et al. Polarization-controllable airy beams generated via a photoaligned director-variant liquid crystal mask. Sci. Rep. 5 , 17484 (2015)..

Rafayelyan, M. & Brasselet, E. Bragg-Berry mirrors: reflective broadband q -plates. Opt. Lett. 41 , 3972–3975 (2016)..

Song, Q. H. et al. Ptychography retrieval of fully polarized holograms from geometric-phase metasurfaces. Nat. Commun. 11 , 2651 (2020)..

Yin, K. et al. Advanced liquid crystal devices for augmented reality and virtual reality displays: principles and applications. Light Sci. Appl. 11 , 161 (2022)..

Zhang, C. & Zhao, Y. F. Orbital angular momentum nondegenerate index mapping for long distance transmission. IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun. 18 , 5027–5036 (2019)..

Cortese, A. J. et al. Microscopic sensors using optical wireless integrated circuits. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117 , 9173–9179 (2020)..

Zhao, D. et al. Recent progress in metal-organic framework based fluorescent sensors for hazardous materials detection. Molecules 27 , 2226 (2022)..

Lan, R. C. et al. Humidity-induced simultaneous visible and fluorescence photonic patterns enabled by integration of covalent bonds and ionic crosslinks. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31 , 2106419 (2021)..

Herzer, N. et al. Printable optical sensors based on h-bonded supramolecular cholesteric liquid crystal networks. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 , 7608–7611 (2012)..

van Heeswijk, E. P. A. et al. Humidity-gated, temperature-responsive photonic infrared reflective broadband coatings. J. Mater. Chem. A 7 , 6113–6119 (2019)..

Deng, Y. Q. & Jiang, J. Optical fiber sensors in extreme temperature and radiation environments: a review. IEEE Sens. J. 22 , 13811–13834 (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