Temperature dependence of refractive index gradient in nanosphere dispersed liquid crystal (NDLC) metamaterial at infrared frequencies: Monte Carlo study

Temperature dependence of spatial inhomogeneity of real part of effective refractive index in nanosphere dispersed liquid crystal (NDLC) metamaterial at infrared frequencies is studied using the approach of Khoo et al. [1] and Monte Carlo modeling proposed recently in Refs. [2] and [3]. We show that the temperature is an important tuning parameter for an inhomogeneous NDLC below the temperature of nematic–isotropic liquid transition.

► Nanosphere dispersed liquid crystal is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. ► Effect of inhomogeneous anchoring forces on optical response is analyzed. ► Temperature dependence of refractive index gradient is analyzed. ► Temperature can be an additional tuning parameter for nanosphere dispersed liquid crystal.