Light-induced orientational effects in periodic photonic structures with pure and dye-doped nematic liquid crystal defects

We theoretically study and compare the light-induced Fréedericksz transition and above-threshold reorientation in pure and dye-doped nematic liquid crystals embedded into periodic dielectric structures. The presence of optical defect modes is found to significantly alter the effective influence of dyes as compared to the standard case of liquid crystal films without periodic structure, which is due to the overall resonant absorption of the dye-doped liquid crystal layer. Both statics and dynamics are discussed. In particular, it is found that optical response time can be up to several orders of magnitude faster with pure liquid crystals than with dye-doped ones. Thermal effects caused by absorption of dyes are also investigated to gauge whether it may induce nematic-to-isotropic phase transition.