Wavelength-tuneable lasers can play a crucial role across many fields, and their applications continue to expand with advancements. Cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) devices are developed, enabling good wavelength-tuneable lasers. In CLC devices, pitch control is required to tune the desired wavelength. However, pitch control takes a long time and is difficult, which limits the speed and range of laser wavelength tuning. Here, by applying a voltage once and forming an electric field gradient along the wedge direction in the CLC wedge cell, we could realize CLC pitch gradient arrays that achieve continuous wavelength tuning over 500 nm in only 10 min through the electrothermal effect while continuously generating laser lines in the full visible spectrum. The laser wavelength could be rapidly tuned over the full visible spectrum by moving within the array in the wedge cell. The study of CLC cells for electric field application in real time is able to observe the dynamic process of pitch change directly. This new laser device and strategy has potential in many fields that require active laser tuning and is expected to lead to innovative changes in the development of future practical laser devices in the optical industry.

中文翻译：

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基于电热效应的胆甾型液晶盒快速形成全可见光谱连续可调谐激光器

波长可调谐激光器可以在许多领域发挥至关重要的作用，并且其应用随着技术的进步而不断扩大。胆甾型液晶 (CLC) 器件的开发，实现了良好的波长可调谐激光器。在 CLC 器件中，需要进行螺距控制来调谐所需的波长。然而，俯仰控制耗时长、难度大，限制了激光波长调谐的速度和范围。这里，通过在CLC楔形单元中施加一次电压并沿楔形方向形成电场梯度，我们可以实现CLC节距梯度阵列，在连续产生激光的同时，通过电热效应仅在10分钟内实现超过500 nm的连续波长调谐整个可见光谱中的谱线。通过在楔形单元的阵列内移动，可以在整个可见光谱范围内快速调谐激光波长。 CLC细胞实时电场应用的研究能够直接观察俯仰变化的动态过程。这种新的激光器件和策略在许多需要主动激光调谐的领域具有潜力，有望导致光学行业未来实用激光器件发展的创新变革。