In the recent decade, liquid crystals (LCs) have been a fascinating class of materials that exhibit unique electro-optic properties, which have found wide-ranging applications in various technologies. In this talk, an overview of various LC-based optical devices will be discussed that we have designed and fabricated in our laboratory. We have developed an LC-based all-electrically controlled multidirectional laser beam steering device, an active and bistable polarization beam splitter, a free-standing optical diffuser, and a laser speckle contrast suppressor. These devices offer several advantages over existing technologies and exhibit fascinating features such as excellent control with tunability, low voltage control, quick response times, and also offer flexibility. We have recently explored the LC in energy harvesting systems to develop a thermoelectric and flexoelectric generator. These findings will be discussed in detail during the talk.
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