Quantitative Modeling of Bending-induced Circular Polarization Response in Cellulose Nanocrystal Films for Curvature Detection

Abstract

Cellulose nanocrystal films with self-assembled chiral nematic structures exhibit characteristic Bragg reflection and circular polarization, making them promising candidates for optical sensing applications. This work investigates the evolution of the circular polarization state of reflected light under bending deformation. The curvature-induced variation in the local incident angle gives rise to a systematic shift of the reflection bandgap, which further modulates the Stokes parameter S₃. A Gaussian model is established to quantitatively describe the dependence of S₃ on the wavelength detuning between the incident laser and the photonic bandgap. A dual-wavelength analysis method is proposed to ensure the monotonicity and reliability of the optical response for curvature detection. This study deepens the understanding of the structure-optical response correlation of chiral photonic materials and lays a theoretical foundation for their application in flexible optical curvature sensing.

Keywords

Cellulose nanocrystal / Circular polarization / Gaussian model / Curvature detection

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Jilin University, The Editorial Department of Chemical Research in Chinese Universities and Springer-Verlag GmbH

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