Optical filter with tunable wavelength and bandwidth based on cholesteric liquid crystals

An optical filter with tunable wavelength and bandwidth has been demonstrated using two cholesteric liquid crystals configured in a reflection mode, in which the incident light is first reflected by one cholesteric liquid crystal and then by the other one. The central wavelength can be tuned from 527 nm to 574 nm and the bandwidth can be changed from 10 nm to 80 nm. It has potential applications in many fields, especially in optical communications and multispectral and hyperspectral imaging systems.