The POLICRYPS liquid-crystalline structure for optical applications
We present a review of polymer-liquid crystal-based devices for optical applications. Starting from a particular fabrication technique, which enables to obtain the POLICRYPS (POlymer LIquid CRYstal Polymer Slices) structure, we illustrate different realizations, along with their working principle and main features and performances. The name POLICRYPS indicates a structure made of parallel slices of pure polymeric material alternated to films of well-aligned nematic liquid crystal (NLC), with a spatial periodicity that can be settled in the range 0.2÷15 μm.