Acoustooptic shutter for glass units

Introduction. The use of liquid crystals is attractive for solving technical problems when creating a new generation of monitors, pressure sensors, seismic activity, determining the level of dry or liquid media, indicators of the concentration of harmful substances due to the small size of devices, low power consumption, simple design, low cost, and easy controllability of liquid crystals by various external fields. Under the action of mechanical shear, the liquid crystal layer is deformed, as a result of which surface polarization occurs. The purpose of the research is to conduct an experimental study of the effect of an electric field on flexopolarization occurring in a thin layer of a liquid crystal to create an acousto-optic shutter. Materials and methods. Nematic liquid crystals 10 – 100 μm thick with homeotropic orientation of molecules were used as materials: n – methoxybenzylidene n – butylaniline; 4 – octyl – 4 – cyanobiphenyl; nitrophenyloctyloxybenzoate; cyanophenyl ester of heptylbenzoic acid. Methods. The experimental setup consisted of a charge-sensitive amplifier with a high input resistance of 10 GΩ and a selective amplifier (2 MΩ). The design of the amplifier made it possible to apply a constant voltage of up to 100 V to its input, as well as linear and synchronous signal detections, which were then fed to the ADC that recorded them. Results and discussion. The behavior of charges induced on the surface of a liquid crystal due to internal mechanisms of molecular-orientation polarization was considered as a function of the magnitude and direction of the external electric field. For this, a liquid-crystal layer (MBBA) was placed in an electric field. The dependences of the first U1ω and second U2ω harmonics, when a positive potential is applied to a deformable plate, reach lower values than with a negative one. The electric field at a positive potential stabilizes the molecules of the polarized layer, and at a negative potential it makes it less stable, which leads in one case to a decrease in the slope angle on the surface, and in the other to an increase, which leads to an increase in the second harmonic. Under weak boundary conditions, a polar deformation occurs in the bulk of the NLC. When the field is applied to the homeotropic layer of NLC (CPEHBA), the value of the second harmonic U2ω increases linearly from the voltage Uc up to the achievement of “saturation”, which is due to an increase in the stabilizing dielectric moment over the viscoelastic one. At low fields (Е ≤ 104 V/cm), the value of U2ω first increases and then decreases due to an increase in the tilt angle of the director relative to the normal to the surface. At low polarizing voltages Uc ≤ 15 V (CPEHBA) dependence U1ω is approximated by a power function of the Uc 3 type, at Uc >> 15 V the second harmonic U2ω depends as Uc –1. At low bias voltages, the position of the minima of the values of the first U1ω and second U2ω harmonics (for MBBA and CPEHBA) does not coincide with the zero point along the abscissa at Uc = 0. The harmonics U1ω and U2ω have a maximum when a positive potential is applied to the moving electrode. In the region of positive displacement voltages, the molecules stabilize, while at negative voltages, the molecules are less resistant to orientational perturbations. The value of the second harmonic U2ω sharply decreases with the perturbation frequency. Conclusion. The obtained research results can be used in the development of pressure sensors, seismic sensors for buildings and structures, light modulators, as well as an acoustooptic switch for glass units.