Design of binary diffraction gratings of liquid crystals in a linearly graded phase model

We report on a linearly graded phase model for the design of binary diffraction gratings of liquid crystals (LCs) associated with the periodic interfacial effect. The binary nature of the LC grating is produced by use of periodic striped domains in an alternating homeotropic and hybrid geometry. In our graded phase model the diffraction patterns and the diffracted intensities of the LC binary grating is primarily governed by three length scales: the cell thickness and two distortion parameters scaled by the grating period at two domain boundaries. The experimental data agree well with theoretical predictions made in our linearly graded phase model as well as the elastic continuum theory.