Abstract
Liquid crystals including chiral molecule have a self‐organized helical structure with nano‐scaled periodicity, which can be regarded as a one‐dimensional (1D) photonic crystal. We have so far investigated lasing characteristics at an edge of the 1D photonic band gap (PBG) of dye‐doped chiral liquid crystals such as cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) and ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC). A band‐edge excitation effect on the CLC lasing has been experimentally demonstrated by matching the excitation laser wavelength to the higher energy‐edge of the PBG of a dye‐doped CLC. The wavelength tuning of the laser action upon changing electric field strength has been achieved in FLC. We have proposed the defect modes characteristic to the helicoidal structure of the chiral liquid crystal and demonstrated the lasing from the chiral defect modes. A twist defect mode in a transmission spectrum of the composite film consisting of two photopolymerized CLC layers has been experimentally demonstrated. A new type of defect mode in a chiral liquid crystal on the basis of the local deformation of the 1D periodic helical structure has also been proposed, and the possibility of the wavelength tuning has been demonstrated in this system. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)