The ability to control light direction with tailored precision via facile means is long‐desired in science and industry. With the advances in optics, a periodic structure called diffraction grating ...gains prominence and renders a more flexible control over light propagation when compared to prisms. Today, diffraction gratings are common components in wavelength division multiplexing devices, monochromators, lasers, spectrometers, media storage, beam steering, and many other applications. Next‐generation optical devices, however, demand nonmechanical, full and remote control, besides generating higher than 1D diffraction patterns with as few optical elements as possible. Liquid crystals (LCs) are great candidates for light control since they can form various patterns under different stimuli, including periodic structures capable of behaving as diffraction gratings. The characteristics of such gratings depend on several physical properties of the LCs such as film thickness, periodicity, and molecular orientation, all resulting from the internal constraints of the sample, and all of these are easily controllable. In this review, the authors summarize the research and development on stimuli‐controllable diffraction gratings and beam steering using LCs as the active optical materials. Dynamic gratings fabricated by applying external field forces or surface treatments and made of chiral and nonchiral LCs with and without polymer networks are described. LC gratings capable of switching under external stimuli such as light, electric and magnetic fields, heat, and chemical composition are discussed. The focus is on the materials, designs, applications, and future prospects of diffraction gratings using LC materials as active layers.
Control of light is of fundamental importance across all fields of science and technology. Next‐generation devices require nonmechanical capabilities and easy tuning for adapting to fastchanging situations. How, over the last 50 years, liquid crystals have been used as switchable diffraction gratings, along with fabrication, designs, challenges, and the future of liquid crystal gratings are discussed.
ABSTRACT The detection of periodicity in the broadband non-thermal emission of blazars has so far been proven to be elusive. However, there are a number of scenarios that could lead to quasi-periodic ...variations in blazar light curves. For example, an orbital or thermal/viscous period of accreting matter around central supermassive black holes could, in principle, be imprinted in the multi-wavelength emission of small-scale blazar jets, carrying such crucial information about plasma conditions within the jet launching regions. In this paper, we present the results of our time series analysis of the ∼9.2 yr long, and exceptionally well-sampled, optical light curve of the BL Lac object OJ 287. The study primarily used the data from our own observations performed at the Mt. Suhora and Kraków Observatories in Poland, and at the Athens Observatory in Greece. Additionally, SMARTS observations were used to fill some of the gaps in the data. The Lomb-Scargle periodogram and the weighted wavelet Z-transform methods were employed to search for possible quasi-periodic oscillations in the resulting optical light curve of the source. Both methods consistently yielded a possible quasi-periodic signal around the periods of ∼400 and ∼800 days, the former with a significance (over the underlying colored noise) of . A number of likely explanations for this are discussed, with preference given to a modulation of the jet production efficiency by highly magnetized accretion disks. This supports previous findings and the interpretation reported recently in the literature for OJ 287 and other blazar sources.
Constructing and tuning self‐organized three‐dimensional (3D) superstructures with tailored functionality is crucial in the nanofabrication of smart molecular devices. Herein we fabricate a ...self‐organized, phototunable 3D photonic superstructure from monodisperse droplets of one‐dimensional cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) containing a photosensitive chiral molecular switch with high helical twisting power. The droplets are obtained by a glass capillary microfluidic technique by dispersing into PVA solution that facilitates planar anchoring of the liquid‐crystal molecules at the droplet surface, as confirmed by the observation of normal incidence selective circular polarized reflection in all directions from the core of individual droplet. Photoirradiation of the droplets furnishes dynamic reflection colors without thermal relaxation, whose wavelength can be tuned reversibly by variation of the irradiation time. The results provided clear evidence on the phototunable reflection in all directions.
Blue rays: Photoirradiation of self‐organized, phototunable 3D photonic superstructures of monodisperse droplets of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) containing a photosensitive chiral molecular switch gives dynamic reflection colors. The colors can be tuned reversibly upon light irradiation, and in groups of droplets blue‐ray patterns arise from photonic cross‐communication between neighboring droplets.
Zigzag pattern formation is a common and important phenomenon in nature serving a multitude of purposes. For example, the zigzag‐shaped edge of green leaves boosts the transportation and absorption ...of nutrients. However, the elucidation of this complicated shape formation is challenging in fluid mechanics and soft condensed matter systems. Herein, a dynamically reconfigurable zigzag pattern deformation of a soft helical superstructure is demonstrated in a photoresponsive self‐organized cholesteric liquid crystal superstructure under the simultaneous influence of an applied electric field and light irradiation. The zigzag‐shaped pattern can not only be generated and terminated repeatedly on demand, but can also be easily manipulated by alternating irradiation of ultraviolet and visible light while under the influence of a sustained electric field. This unique behavior results from a delicate balance among the variable experimental parameters. The evolution of the zigzag‐shaped pattern is successfully modeled by numerical simulations and has been monitored through diffraction of a probe laser. Interestingly, this fascinating zigzag‐shaped pattern yields crescent‐shaped diffraction pattern. The reversibly controllable dynamic zigzag pattern could enable the fabrication of novel photonic devices and architectures, besides greatly advancing the fundamental understanding of temporal behavior of ordered soft materials under combined stimuli.
Controllable dynamic zigzag‐shaped pattern formation in a photoresponsive soft self‐organized helical superstructure is accomplished via the coupled stimuli effect of electric field and light, which has enabled a unique diffraction pattern not found before.
We analyze 37 months of Kepler photometry of 2M 1938+4603, a binary system with a pulsating hot subdwarf primary and an M-dwarf companion that shows strong reflection effect. We measured the eclipse ...timings from more than 16 000 primary and secondary eclipses and discovered a periodic variation in the timing signal that we ascribe to a third body in the system. We also discovered a significant long-term trend that may be an evolutionary effect or a hint of more bodies. Upon the assumption that the third body is orbiting in the same plane as the primary, we establish that it must be a Jupiter-mass object orbiting with a period of 416 days at a distance of 0.92 AU. This mass is the lowest among all tertiary components detected in similar systems.
Abstract
We present an analysis of the
BVRI
photometry of the blazar BL Lacertae on diverse timescales from 2020 mid-July to mid-September. We have used 11 different optical telescopes around the ...world and have collected data over 84 observational nights. The observations cover the onset of a new activity phase of BL Lacertae that started in 2020 August (termed as the 2020 August flare by us), and the analysis is focused on the intranight variability. On short-term timescales, (i) flux varied with ∼2.2 mag in the
R
band, (ii) the spectral index was found to be weakly dependent on the flux (i.e., the variations could be considered mildly chromatic), and (iii) no periodicity was detected. On intranight timescales, BL Lacertae was found to predominantly show bluer-when-brighter chromatism. We also found two cases of significant interband time lags of the order of a few minutes. The duty cycle of the blazar during the 2020 August flare was estimated to be quite high (∼90% or higher). We decomposed the intranight light curves into individual flares and determined their characteristics. On the basis of our analysis and assuming the turbulent jet model, we determined some characteristics of the emitting regions: Doppler factor, magnetic field strength, electron Lorentz factor, and radius. The radii determined were discussed in the framework of the Kolmogorov theory of turbulence. We also estimated the weighted mean structure function slope on intranight timescales, related it to the slope of the power spectral density, and discussed it with regard to the origin of intranight variability.
ABSTRACT
We present the results of a search for binary hot subdwarf stars in photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The sample of objects used in this work was a ...byproduct of another search for pulsating hot subdwarfs, which resulted in the discovery of nearly 400 non-pulsating variable candidates. The periodogram for each object was calculated and a frequency signal with one or more harmonics above the 4 σ detection threshold was used to consider the candidate as a possible binary system. The type of variability was subsequently confirmed by visual inspection. We present a list of 46 binary system candidates that were not previously known as binaries. We also analysed a few example light curves to demonstrate the importance of double checking the variability of the source in the TESS light curves corrected for instrumental signatures. Four objects, TIC 55753808, TIC 118412596, TIC 4999380, and TIC 68834079, which show variations in the TESS-calibrated fluxes, were actually found to be constant. We also found that it might be more appropriate to increase the commonly used 4σ detection threshold in order to avoid the detection of multiple spurious peaks in the periodograms or Fourier transform of the TESS light curves.
The Kepler mission observations, taken in the long cadence mode, have a time resolution of about 30 min. In this paper, we investigate how the long cadence binning influences the shapes of the light ...curves of eclipsing binaries. A simulated light curve of a contact binary exhibiting a flat-bottom secondary minimum was applied for this purpose. We found that the binning caused a change in the variation amplitude and the shape of the minima. We modelled the simulated light curves corresponding to periods between 0.2 and 2 d using a code that does not account for binning and we derived the parameters. It turned out that only when the binary period is close to or longer than about 1.5 d are the solutions derived with such a code accurate. Rigorous modelling of systems with shorter periods requires the use of codes that do account for phase smearing due to long exposure times. We selected a sample of contact binaries observed by the Kepler mission, exhibiting a flat-bottom secondary minimum and showing no intrinsic activity. We solved the light curves of the sample with the most recent (2015) version of the Wilson-Devinney code and we derived the system parameters. The best models that we derived indicate that most of the systems in our sample have a deep contact configuration and that 13 out of 17 required the addition of a third light for good fits. Our results suggest that 13 systems could have tertiary companions.
The BL Lacertae object OJ 287 (z = 0.306) has unique double-peaked optical outbursts every ∼12 yr, and it presents one of the best cases for a small-separation binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) ...system, with an extremely massive primary . However, the host galaxy is unresolved or only marginally detected in all optical studies so far, indicating a large deviation from the bulge mass-SMBH mass relation. We have obtained deep, high spatial resolution i-band and K-band images of OJ 287 when the target was in a low state, which enable us to detect the host galaxy. We find the broadband photometry of the host to be consistent with an early-type galaxy with MR = −22.5 and MK = −25.2, placing it in the middle of the host galaxy luminosity distribution of BL Lacertae objects. The central supermassive black hole is clearly overmassive for a host galaxy of that luminosity, but not unprecedented, given some recent findings of other "overmassive" black holes in nearby galaxies.
Abstract More than 36 yr have passed since the discovery of the infrared excess from circumstellar dust orbiting the white dwarf G29-38, which at 17.5 pc it is the nearest and brightest of its class. ...The precise morphology of the orbiting dust remains only marginally constrained by existing data, subject to model-dependent inferences, and thus fundamental questions of its dynamical origin and evolution persist. This study presents a means to constrain the geometric distribution of the emitting dust using stellar pulsations measured at optical wavelengths as a variable illumination source of the dust, which reradiates primarily in the infrared. By combining optical photometry from the Whole Earth Telescope with 0.7–2.5 μ m spectroscopy obtained with SpeX at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, we detect luminosity variations at all observed wavelengths, with variations at most wavelengths corresponding to the behavior of the pulsating stellar photosphere, but toward the longest wavelengths the light curves probe the corresponding time variability of the circumstellar dust. In addition to developing methodology, we find the pulsation amplitudes decrease with increasing wavelength for principal pulsation modes, yet increase beyond ≈2 μ m for nonlinear combination frequencies. We interpret these results as combination modes derived from the principal modes of identical ℓ values and discuss the implications for the morphology of the warm dust. We also draw attention to some discrepancies between our findings and theoretical expectations for the results of the nonlinearity imposed by the surface convection zone on mode–mode interactions and on the behavior of the first harmonic of the highest-amplitude pulsation mode.
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