Liquid crystals embedded in poly(dimethylsiloxane) photonic devices: modeling and fabrication issues
Liquid crystals (LC) can be successfully adopted as waveguides for photonic devices and optofluidic systems, while poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is a cheap and easy to implement soft material which allows the making of any geometry. Modelization and making of several LC embedded in PDMS photonic devices are presented in this work. The theoretical study of the waveguides’ inner structure was performed by Monte Carlo simulations of the molecular ordering inside the microchannel.