Plasmonic nanohole electrodes for active color tunable liquid crystal transmissive pixels

Richard Bartholomew, Calum Williams, Ammar Khan, Richard Bowman, and Timothy Wilkinson

Index: 10.1364/OL.42.002810

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Abstract

Plasmonic pixels have been shown to offer numerous advantages over pigment-based color filters used in modern commercial liquid crystal (LC) displays. However, wideband dynamic tunability across the visible spectrum remains challenging. We experimentally demonstrate transmissive electrically tunable LC-nanohole pixels operating across the visible spectrum with unpolarized input light. An ultrathin Al nanohole electrode is designed to exhibit a polarized spectral response based on surface plasmon resonances. An output analyzer in combination with a nematic LC layer enables pixel color to be electronically controlled through an applied voltage across the device, where LC reorientation leads to tunable mixing of the relative contributions from the plasmonic color input. The nanostructured Al layer, acting as a combined electrode, polarizer, and functional color filter, is highly promising for electro-optic display applications.