Reconfigurable building blocks for the construction of photonic devices

Liquid crystal (LC) molecules spontaneously form helical structures in the presence of chiral molecules, and these structures are referred to as cholesteric LC (CLC). The CLCs exhibit pronounced colors when the helical pitch is comparable with the wavelength of visible light. Such a photonic effect renders the CLCs promising for various photonic devices. Nevertheless, the fluidity of LCs severely limits the ease of processing and structural stability, restricting their applications.