In order to achieve this effect, scientists filled the optical microcavity with a liquid crystal and dissolved the laser dye in it. The microcavity consists of two perfect mirrors located close to each other – at a distance of 2-3 microns allowing to form a standing electromagnetic wave inside. The space between the mirrors was filled with a special optical medium – liquid crystal, which was additionally designed using a special coating of mirrors.<\/p>\n
\u201cFiguratively speaking, liquid crystals with their elongated molecules, were “combed” on the surface of the mirrors and could stand up under the influence of an external electric field, turning also other molecules filling the cavity\u201d, explains Marcin Muszy\u0144ski, PhD student at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe use of liquid crystals allowed for smooth tuning of the light wavelength by as much as 40 nm with the electric field. However, when we rotated the liquid crystal molecules so that both modes (the one sensitive to the orientation of the molecules and the one that did not change its energy) overlapped (i.e. they were in resonance), the light emitted from the microcavity suddenly changed its polarization from linear to two circular: right- and left-handed, with both circular polarities propagating in different directions at an angle of several degrees,\u201d described Prof. Jacek Szczytko from the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw.<\/p>\n
Adrian Andrzejewski<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scientists from the University of Warsaw (UW), the Military University of Technology and the University of Southampton have presented a new type of tunable microlaser emitting two beams. \u201eThese beams…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"yoast_head":"\n