大学院理学府 物理学専攻 博士後期課程 2 年の齊藤 圭太さんが The 9th Optical Manipulation and Structured Materials Conference で「The OMC Best Student Award」を受賞しました。この賞は、OPTICS & PHOTONICS International Congress (OPIC) 2022 内の専門会議 The 9th Optical Manipulation and Structured Materials Conference (OMC 2022) において優れた会議録 (proceedings) を投稿した学生 1 名に与えられるものです。
齊藤 圭太 (大学院理学府 物理学専攻 博士後期課程 2 年)
Optically driven liquid crystal rotator (光駆動液晶回転子)
Rotation of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) droplets by irradiation of focused circular polarized light is experimentally studied. Optical torque transferred to a droplet depends on its size. We discuss the relation between the LC molecular alignment inside the droplet and its rotation mechanism. In a larger droplet, the internal LC alignment is bipolar and wave-plate behavior becomes dominant. In a smaller droplet, the optical anisotropy reduces with decrease of its size and scattering process mainly contributes its rotation. We also construct multiple LC rotators system using a holographic optical tweezer. Such optically controllable vortex enables us to realize complex flow field at micron-scale.