Spatially periodic liquid crystal director field appearing in a photonic crystal template

Active tuning of photonic crystals can be achieved by filling the porous structures with liquid crystals. Here, the director field in macropores was studied by fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy. For this purpose, the photonic crystal was infiltrated with a glass-forming liquid crystalline polymer, the sample was cooled below the glass transition temperature and, subsequently, the photonic crystal template was removed. Results on a structure with modulated pores indicate a spatially periodic director field containing a lattice of disclination rings.