Electrical tuning of branched flow of light

Theory of branched flow of light in liquid crystal film

According to the Ericksen-Leslie theory, the optical properties of liquid crystals can be characterized by the spatial distribution of molecules’ orientation vector (or the “director”) \(\hat{{{{{{{{\bf{n}}}}}}}}}({{{{{{{\bf{r}}}}}}}})\)^31,32. This unit vector determines the local average molecular orientation. Due to the optical birefringence, a uniform NLC system supports light propagation with two different polarizations, i.e., ordinary and extraordinary waves. The ordinary (extraordinary) wave has the polarization perpendicular…