Chu, K.-C.K.-C.ChuSu, W.-S.W.-S.SuYANG-FANG CHEN2018-09-102018-09-102006http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-33746823721&partnerID=MN8TOARShttp://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/321146We report an approach of controlling liquid crystals using a laser beam without external bias. In our design, in addition to liquid crystals, a patterned semiconductor was also included. We discovered that the average pretilt angle of liquid crystals can be controlled by adjusting excitation power, and the relationship was found to follow the possible predicted photovoltaic effect. Besides, the photogenerated field was found to have both perpendicular and horizontal components, which is very useful to control the orientation of liquid crystals to an arbitrary direction. Optical switch devices can be possible to design using our method. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.[SDGs]SDG7Crystal orientation; Electric excitation; Laser beam effects; Optical switches; Photovoltaic effects; Semiconducting cadmium compounds; Semiconducting selenium compounds; Arbitrary direction; Patterned semiconductor; Photogenerated field; Pretilt angle; Liquid crystalsjournal article10.1063/1.22196972-s2.0-33746823721WOS:000239423400142