Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals light shutter driven by surface acoustic wave

We present the realization of an optical shutter based on polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) and surface acoustic wave (SAW). The SAW is used to induce acoustic streaming within the PDLC sample to re-orientate the LC molecules inside the LC droplets perpendicular to the substrate from radial alignment. This reversible reorientation will change the light transmission through the sample. Experimental results show that such acoustic based reorientation is the main factor for the optical shutter effect. The optimized switching-on and switching-off times are 14 s and 5 s respectively, under the applied acoustic power of 36dBm.