A metamaterial-liquid crystal cell structure is fabricated with the metamaterial as one of the liquid crystal alignment layers. Nano-sized double-split ring resonator in the metamaterial accommodates two distinct resonances in the near infrared regime. By adopting an azo-nematic liquid crystal in a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell structure, a photo-isomerization process is utilized to achieve an optical switching of light transmissions between two resonances. A single device of the metamaterial-liquid crystal cell structure has a potential application in the photonic switching in optical fiber telecommunications.

© 2010 Optical Society of America

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Appl. Phys. Lett.

• Q. Zhao, L. Kang, B. Du, B. Li, J. Zhou, H. Tang, X. Liang, and B. Zhang, “Electrically tunable negative permeability metamaterials based on nematic liquid crystals,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 011112 (2007). [CrossRef]
• X. Wang, D.-H. Kwon, D. Werner, I.-C. Khoo, A. Kildishev, and V. Shalaev, “Tunable optical negative-index metamaterials employing anisotropic liquid crystals,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 143122 (2007). [CrossRef]
• S. Xiao, U. Chettiar, A. Kildishev, V. Drachev, I. Khoo, and V. Shalaev, “Tunable magnetic response of metamaterials,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 033115 (2009). [CrossRef]

J. Opt. Soc. Am. B

• B. Kang, H. Choi, M.-Y. Jeong, and J. W. Wu, “Effective medium analysis for optical control of laser tuning in a mixture of azo-nematics and cholesteric liquid crystal,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 27, 204 (2010). [CrossRef]

Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. (Phila. Pa.)

• U. Hrozhyk, S. Serak, N. Tabiryan, and T. J. Bunning, “Wide temperature range azobenzene nematic and smectic lc materials,” Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst. (Phila. Pa.) 454, 235 (2006). [CrossRef]

Nat. Photonics

• H.-T. Chen, J. O’Hara, A. Azad, A. Taylor, R. Averitt, D. Shrekenhamer, and W. Padilla, “Experimental demonstration of frequency-agile terahertz metamaterials,” Nat. Photonics 2, 295 (2008). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• V. A. Fedotov, A. Tsiatmas, J. H. Shi, R. Buckingham, P. de Groot, S. W. Y. Chen, and N. I. Zheludev, “Temperature control of fano resonances and transmission in superconducting metamaterials,” Opt. Express 18, 9015 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• W. Padilla, “Group theoretical description of artificial electromagnetic metamaterials,” Opt. Express 15, 1639 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• B. Kang, E. Choi, H.-H. Lee, E. Kim, J. Woo, J. Kim, T. Hong, J. Kim, and J. W. Wu, “Polarization angle control of coherent coupling in metamaterial superlattice for closed mode excitation,” Opt. Express 18, 11552 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev. Lett.

• H. Tao, A. C. Strikwerda, K. Fan, W. J. Padilla, X. Zhang, and R. D. Averitt, “Reconfigurable terahertz metamaterials,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 147401 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Science

• T. Driscoll, H.-T. Kim, B.-G. Chae, B.-J. Kim, Y.-W. Lee, N. Jokerst, S. Palit, D. R. Smith, M. D. Ventra, and D. N. Basov, “Memory metamaterials,” Science 325, 1518 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• N. I. Zheludev, “The road ahead for metamaterials,” Science 328, 582 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• T. Ikeda, and O. Tsutsumi, “Optical switching and image storage by means of azobenzene liquid-crystal films,” Science 268, 1873 (1995). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Other

• B. E. A. Saleh, and M. C. Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics (Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2007), 2nd ed.

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