LOGOS Light-operated logic circuits from photonic soft-matter

LOGOS
Light-operated logic circuits from photonic soft-matter
1. 1. 2021 - 30. 6. 2026

Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Igor Muševič

Leading organisation:
Jožef Stefan Institute

Participating organisation:
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics

CORDIS website:
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/884928

ZENODO open data repository:
https://zenodo.org/communities/logos/

Soft Matter Macro and Micro-Photonics workshop:
https://smphotonics2026.fmf.uni-lj.si/

Project description

A revolutionary photonic technology based on self-assembled soft matter that is likely to evolve into currently unforeseen, futuristic technologies. The liquid nature and responsiveness of soft matter delivers the spontaneous self-assembly of tuneable liquid micro-lasers, liquid micro-fibres, liquid light switches, and tuneable optical micro-resonators with extremely smooth interfaces, low optical losses, elastic deformability and self-healing, all of which are difficult to obtain with hard matter. These photonic micro-devices operate exclusively on light and can be easily integrated into 3D photonic chips by micro-injection into a polymer scaffold or elastic binding via topological defect loops and points.

LOGOS will create integrated and self-organized photonic chips with the focus on four specific challenges: (i) an all optically switchable optical transistor made of chiral liquid crystals (LCs), (ii) logic micro-gates made of LCs that operate entirely on light, (iii) optically switchable LC micro-resonators that redirect light, and (iv) soft-matter photonic integrated circuits in 3D assembled using topology. The validity of the approach will be demonstrated by optical logic gates, and an optical add-drop filter, which will be assembled from soft matter and will use only light to perform the logic operation and optical signal gating and redirecting beyond the GHz range.

This very high-risk, high-gain proposal challenges the mainstream photonic roadmaps by offering a disruptive technology that reduces production times, waste and energy, and enables light processing by light, all currently difficult to obtain in the solid state. LOGOS’s results will not only have a major impact on future data centres and optical networks, but could also revolutionize implantable, biocompatible and wearable photonics.

Members

Prof. Dr. Igor Muševič

Prof. Dr. Miha Ravnik

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miha Škarabot

Dr. Uroš Jagodič

Dr. Jaka Pišljar

Dr. Mahendran Vellaichamy

Dr. Vandna Sharma

Dr. Urban Mur

Dr. Andreja Jelen

Dr. Andriy Nych

Dr. Anna V. Ryzhkova

Dr. Amid Ranjkesh

Dr. Deepshika Malkar

Dr. Jaka Zaplotnik

Arkalekha Neogi

Linsy Jane Selvin Robert

Equipment

Lasers

Tunable nanosecond pulsed laser Opolette UX10230 (Opotek)
Onefive Origami XP 1064 nm pulsed laser (NKT) and Origami IRO (APE) tunable femtosecond optical parametric amplifier
Pulselas-A-532 nm pulsed Q-switched laser (Alphalas)
EO-532-N-100uJ, 532 nm pulsed laser (CNI)

Microsopy

Nikon Ti2-U inverted microscope (Nikon)
Nikon Eclipse LV100N Polarizing upright microscope (Nikon)
Spinning disc confocal unit X-Light V2 compatible with Nikon Eclipse Ti-E microscope (CrestOptics)

Other

Microinjector FemtoJet 4i (Eppendorf)
Andor SR-500i spectrometer equipped with Andor Newton 970 EMCCD camera (Andor)
Photonic Professional GT+ two-photon lithography system (Nanoscribe)
Picoharp 330 (PicoQuant)
pulseCheck autocorrelator (APE)

Publications

2021

M. Papič, U. Mur, K. P. Zuhail, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, M. Humar, Topological liquid crystal superstructures as structured light lasers, PNAS 118(49), e2110839118 (2021) [Link].
K. Peddireddy, S. Čopar, K. V. Le, I. Muševič, Ch. Bahr, V. S. R. Jampani, Self-shaping liquid crystal droplets by balancing bulk elasticity and interfacial tension, PNAS 118(14), e2011174118 (2021) [Link].
D. Kuzman, M. Bunc, M. Ravnik, F. Reiter, L. Zagar, M. Bončina, Long-term stability predictions of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in solution using Arrhenius-based kinetics, Sci. Rep. 11, 20534 (2021) [Link].
S. Čopar, M. Ravnik, S. Žumer, Introduction to Colloidal and Microfluidic Nematic Microstructures, Crystals 11(8), 956 (2021) [Link].
X. Chen, I. Fonseca, M. Ravnik, V. Slastikov, C. Zannoni, A. Zarnescu, Topics in the mathematical design of materials, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 379(2201), 20200108 (2021) [Link].
R. Zibaei, M. S. Zakerhamidi, S. Korram, A. Ranjkesh, Effects of polarized light on the optical and self-oscillation behaviors of liquid crystal network polymers, J. Mater. Chem. C 9(41) (2021) [Link].
A. Ranjkesh, Y. Choi, J. W. Huh, S. Seung-Won, T. Hwang, Flexible, broadband, super-reflective infrared reflector based on cholesteric liquid crystal polymer, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 230, 111137 (2021) [Link].
A. Ranjkesh, T. H. Yoon, Ultrathin, transparent, thermally-insulated, and energy-efficient flexible window using coatable chiral-nematic liquid crystal polymer, J. Mol. Liq. 339, 116804 (2021) [Link].

2022

U. Mur, M. Ravnik, Numerical modeling of optical modes in topological soft matter, Opt. Express 30(9) (2022) [Link].
U. Mur, M. Ravnik, D. Seč, Controllable shifting, steering, and expanding of light beam based on multi-layer liquid-crystal cells, Sci. Rep. 12 (2022) [Link].
M. Mur, Ž. Kos, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Continuous generation of topological defects in a passively driven nematic liquid crystal, Nat. Commun. 13 (2022) [Link].
M. Vellaichamy, I. Muševič, Optical gain and photostability of different laser dyes, quantum dots and quantum rods for liquid crystal micro lasers, Proc. SPIE 12023, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XVII (2022) [Link].
N. Kravets, U. Mur, M. Ravnik, S. Žumer, E. Brasselet, Active rejection-enhancement of spectrally adaptive liquid crystal geometric phase vortex coronagraph, Appl. Phys. Lett. 121(24) (2022) [Link].

2023

Z. Alipanah, M. S. Zakerhamidi, H. Movla, B. Azizi, I. Muševič, A. Ranjkesh, Light-Powered Liquid Crystal Polymer Network Actuator Using TiO2 Nanoparticles as an Inorganic Ultraviolet-Light Absorber, ACS Omega 8(11) (2023) [Link].
P. Ropač, U. Mur, M. Ravnik, Slow light by dual-periodic self-similar dielectric multilayered films, Opt. Express 31(14) (2023) [Link].
U. Mur, M. Ravnik, Pixelated Photonic Crystals, Adv. Photonics Res. 2300082 (2023) [Link].
I. Nys, P. Ropač, B. Berteloot, M. Ravnik, K. Neyts, Highly dispersive liquid crystal diffraction gratings with continuously varying periodicity, J. Mol. Liq. 383, 122062 (2023) [Link].
J. Zaplotnik, J. Pišljar, M. Škarabot, M. Ravnik, Neural networks determination of material elastic constants and structures in nematic complex fluids, Sci. Rep. 13 (2023) [Link].
M. Vellaichamy, M. Škarabot, I. Muševič, Optical gain and photo-bleaching of organic dyes, quantum dots, perovskite nanoplatelets and nanodiamonds, Liq. Cryst. 50 (2023) [Link].
U. Jagodič, M. Vellaichamy, M. Škarabot, I. Muševič, Surface alignment of nematic liquid crystals by direct laser writing of photopolymer alignment layers, Liq. Cryst. (2023) [Link].
C. Dao, J. C. Everts, M. Ravnik, Y. Tserkovnyak, Nematronics: Reciprocal Coupling between Ionic Currents and Nematic Dynamics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130(16), 168102 (2023) [Link].
N. Kralj, M. Ravnik, Ž. Kos, Defect Line Coarsening and Refinement in Active Nematics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130(12), 128101 (2023) [Link].
J. Zaplotnik, U. Mur, D. Malkar, A. Ranjkesh, I. Muševič, M. Ravnik, Photonic eigenmodes and transmittance of finite-length 1D cholesteric liquid crystal resonators, Sci. Rep. 13 (2023) [Link].

2024

V. J. Pratley, E. Caf, M. Ravnik, G. P. Alexander, Three-dimensional spontaneous flow transition in a homeotropic active nematic, Commun. Phys. 7 (2024) [Link].
S. Liu, M. Marinčič, I. Nys, M. Ravnik, K. Neyts, Photopatterned Anchoring Stabilizing Monodomain Blue Phases, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 16 (2024) [Link].
J. Zaplotnik, U. Mur, I. Muševič, M. Ravnik, Photonic defect modes in cholesteric liquid crystal resonators with embedded isotropic layers, Opt. Express 32 (2024) [Link].
P. Ropač, Y.-T. Hsiao, B. Berteloot, M. Ravnik, J. Beeckman, Material-Constrained Optimization of Liquid Crystal-Based Holograms, Adv. Optical Mater. 12(26), 2400972 (2024) [Link].
N. Kralj, M. Ravnik, Ž. Kos, Chirality, anisotropic viscosity and elastic anisotropy in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence, Commun. Phys. 7 (2024) [Link].
I. Muševič, M. Vellaichamy, U. Jagodič, J. Pišljar, A. Jelen, A. Nych, M. Škarabot, J. Zaplotnik, M. Ravnik, Direct laser-written waveguides for integrated liquid crystal micro-photonics, Proc. SPIE 13016, Liquid Crystals Optics and Photonic Devices, 130160H (2024) [Link].
D. Sato, Y. Sumino, T. Yamamoto, I. Muševič, Y. Takenaka, The effect of polymerizable monomers on the thickness and the growth rate of self-assembled smectic fibers, Chem. Lett. 53 (2024) [Link].

2025

B. Knez, L. Erzin, Ž. Kos, D. Kuzman, M. Ravnik, Prediction of aggregation in monoclonal antibodies from molecular surface curvature, Sci. Rep. 15, 28266 (2025) [Link].
U. Mur, J. Zaplotnik, M. Horvat, I. Muševič, M. Ravnik, Photonic Eigenmodes of 2D Cylindrical Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Resonators, ACS Photonics 12(10), 5572-5585 (2025) [Link].
M. Vellaichamy, U. Jagodič, J. Pišljar, J. Zaplotnik, U. Mur, A. Jelen, A. Nych, D. Malkar, A. V. Ryzhkova, M. Škarabot, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Microscale generation and control of nanosecond light by light in a liquid crystal, Nat. Photon. 19, 758-766 (2025) [Link].
P. Ropač, Y.-T. Hsiao, B. Berteloot, Y. Ussembayev, I. Nys, M. Ravnik, K. Neyts, Liquid Crystal 3D Optical Waveguides Based on Photoalignment, Adv. Optical Mater. 13, 2402174 (2025) [Link].
S. R. Seyednejad, M. Ravnik, Nematic liquid crystal flow driven by time-varying active surface anchoring, Soft Matter 21, 835-843 (2025) [Link].
U. Jagodič, J. Pišljar, A. Jelen, M. Škarabot, I. Muševič, Three-Dimensional Planar Alignment of Nematic Liquid Crystal by Direct Laser Writing of Nanogratings, ACS Photonics 12 (2025) [Link].
A. Petelin, I. Muševič, Focused beam propagation in cholesteric liquid crystals, Opt. Express 33 (2025) [Link].

2026

Ž. Černe, P. Ropač, M. Ravnik, Inverse design of broadband soft matter optical filters, Opt. Express 34(9), 16416 (2026) [Link].
B. Knez, M. Ravnik, M. Zidar, Physics-based surface patch analysis for prediction of hydrophobic contribution to viscosity of mAbs, mAbs 18 (2026) [Link].
L. J. Selvin Robert, A. C. Das, V. Jurečič, V. Bobnar, O. D. Lavrentovich, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Propulsion of laser printed polymer micro-rods by a low frequency electric field in nematic liquid crystals, Soft Matter 22 (2026) [Link].
M. Stebrytė, E. Raffin, L. Vlieghe, P. Ropač, M. Ravnik, I. Nys, K. Neyts, J. Beeckman, Off-axis reflective phase-only holograms with chiral liquid crystal, Opt. Mater. Express 16 (2026) [Link].
U. Mur, M. Čančula, H. Kobayashi, M. Ravnik, S. Žumer, E. Brasselet, Optomechanical separation of transverse spin and orbital energy flows in liquid crystals, Phys. Rev. Res. 8 (2026) [Link].
V. Sharma, J. Zaplotnik, M. Mur, J. Pišljar, U. Jagodič, A. Jelen, M. Škarabot, U. Mur, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Light control of lasing from liquid-crystal micro-droplet light switch, Adv. Photonics 8(2), 026009 (2026) [Link].
A. Neogi, J. Zaplotnik, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič, Whispering gallery mode study of phase transition and shape change in liquid crystal droplets, Soft Matter 22 (2026) [Link].
D. Sato, Y. Sumino, T. Yamamoto, I. Muševič, Y. Takenaka, Morphological changes in smectic liquid crystal microstructures, Soft Matter 22 (2026) [Link].