Liquid crystals order in polymeric microchannels

Liquid Crystals (LCs), combining optical nonlinearity and self-organizing properties with fluidity and being responsive to a wide variety of stimuli, have reached a key point in their development for photonic applications, for the realization of devices that can be dynamically reconfigurable, widely tunable and ultra-fast controlled. In this chapter, we overview recent advances in obtaining alignment of LCs to be used for photonics applications; in particular, we report on our recent efforts on developing a new generation of LC devices based on isotropic polymeric materials. We have realized an empty polymeric template by etching a periodic liquid crystalline composite material, called POLICRYPS (acronym of POlymer LIquid CRYstal Polymer Slices), which is a nano/micro-composite holographic grating made of slices of almost pure polymer alternated to films of well aligned Nematic Liquid Crystal (NLC). The distinctive features of the realized periodic microstructure enabled aligning several kinds of self-organizing materials, without the need of any kind of surface chemistry or functionalization.