High laser damage threshold liquid crystal optical switch based on a gallium nitride transparent electrode.

High laser damage threshold optical switches and spatial light modulators are in urgent demand in high power laser fields. In this Letter, liquid crystal optical switches using Si-doped GaN and Mg-doped GaN as transparent electrodes are fabricated, and the influence of the conductive properties of GaN is analyzed. The transmission and absorption characteristics of GaN and its sapphire substrate are tested. The results show that the liquid crystal device based on gallium nitride can be expected to play an important role in the fields of visible and near-infrared laser regions with a high laser damage threshold of more than 1 J/cm(2). (C) 2020 Optical Society of America