The anisotropic absorption and emission from semiconductor CdSe/CdS quantum rods (QRs) provide extra benefits among other photoluminescence nanocrystals. Using photo-induced alignment technique, the QRs can be oriented in liquid crystal polymer matrix at a large scale. In this article, a 2D Dammann grating pattern, within “SKL” characters domains aligned QRs in composite film, was fabricated by multi-step photo exposure using several photo masks, and a continuous geometric lens profile pattern aligned QRs was realized by the single step polarization converting holographic irradiation method. Both polarized optical microscope and fluorescence microscope are employed to determine the liquid crystal director profiles and QRs anisotropic excitation properties. We have been able to orient the QRs in fine binary and continuous patterns that confirms the strong quantum rod aligning ability of the proposed method. Thus, the proposed approach paves a way for photo-induced flexible QRs alignments to provide a highly specific and difficult-to-replicate security application at a large scale.

光驱动液晶显示（optically driving liquid crystal display，ODLCD）通过偏振光控制液晶分子的取向来实现显示功能，它已经被广泛应用在各种光电器件中。然而，由于ODLCD较大的擦写时间和响应时间，它在实际应用中仍然受到了一定的限制。本文在ODLCD的光取向层azo dye（SD1）中掺杂了氧化镍（NiO）纳米粒子，并探究了NiO纳米粒子对ODLCD的擦写时间和响应时间的影响。同时，利用扫描电镜、透射电镜和原子力显微镜研究了NiO在SD1取向层的分布和微观形貌。实验结果表明，随着NiO浓度增加，NiO在SD1薄膜的粒径逐渐变大。在不同质量比（1∶0到1∶0.1）的SD1-NiO中，质量比为1∶0.08的SD1-NiO制备的ODLCD具有最小为6.8 s的擦写时间。此外，对于传统的电驱动液晶显示（liquid crystal display，LCD）应用中，掺杂比为1∶0.02的SD1-NiO所制备的ODLCD的响应时间被降低5 ms。

提出了一种以硅基液晶空间光调制器（LCOS SLM，以下简称SLM）为基础的投影拼接式光取向技术。通过结合SLM和二维移动平台可以实现任意尺寸、任意几何相位图案化分布的液晶光学元件的制备。基于此技术，通过连续扫描曝光的方法制备了多种液晶光学元件：一维偏振光栅、二维光栅、微透镜阵列和全息图。实验结果表明：通过该技术可以实现连续相位分布的光学元件的制备和扩大光学元件的口径；尺寸为25.4 mm×25.4 mm的一维偏振光栅的衍射效率达到98.32%，且各区域误差不超过1%；可以仅改变加载到SLM上的曝光图样，实现二维周期性或其他复杂图案的液晶光学元件的制备。基于SLM的投影拼接式光取向技术具有高分辨率、高效率、工艺简单、可实现任意尺寸光学元件制备等特点，可以进一步推动液晶光学元件的发展和实际应用。

Diffractive optical elements attract a considerable amount of attention, mainly due to their potential applications in imaging coding, optical sensing, etc. Application of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) with photo-alignment technology in diffractive optical elements results in a high efficiency and a fast response time. In this study we demonstrate a circular Dammann grating (CDG) with a diffraction efficiency of 84.5%. The achieved response time of 64 μs is approximately two orders of magnitude faster than the existing response time of nematic liquid crystal devices. By applying a low electric field (V = 6 V) to the FLC CDG, it is switched between the eight-order diffractive state and the transmissive diffraction-free state.