Electrooptic jumps in natural helicoidal photonic bandgap structures.

Strong electro mechanical effect was used to generate and study self adaptation and pitch jumps in a helicoidal photonic bandgap structure naturally formed by a cholesteric liquid crystal. The negative dielectric anisotropy of the material allowed its stabilization by the electric field and important thickness changes, achieved thanks to the use of a very thin substrate, allowed the observation of multiple dynamic jumps at fixed deformation conditions. Spectral and morphological studies of the material during those jumps were performed too.