Liquid Crystal-Based Photonic Devices: LC Photonet

LC Photonet is a BRITE-Euram Thematic Network that has been running since November 1997. It has 19 partners, 11 from the academic world and 8 from industrial groups. Geographically, it covers the following EU countries: Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. The main goal of LC Photonet is to address the specific problems that must be solved in order to enlarge the range of applications of liquid crystals (LCs) for the realization of optical and electro-optical devices. Applications of such devices can be found in the following fields: integrated communication technology, optical imaging and processing, light shutters and modulators, optical memories, and large area optical devices. The expertise of our partners spans from: (a) chemistry—new materials development and testing; (b) physics—study of new optical and electro-optical effects, device design, and measurements; (c) engineering—device realization and testing, device optimization. We have divided our activities into four main tasks.