TY - JOUR N2 - Photoactive nanofilled nematic is proposed. Stable three-component photoresponsive nanocomposite was prepared from photo-insensitive nanofilled nematic by inclusion of 3 wt.% azobenzene-containing photoactive mesogen 4-(4′-ethoxyphenylazo)phenyl hexanoate (EPH). The host nanofilled nematic was produced from the room-temperature nematic liquid crystal 4-n-heptyl cyanobiphenyl (7CB) and 3 wt.% filler of Aerosil 300 hydrophilic silica nanospheres of size 7 nm. Apparent effect of stimulation with a relatively weak continuous illumination by UV light (375 nm wavelength) takes place for both the alternating-current electric field-dependent optical transmittance and the electro-optic amplitude-frequency modulation by thin films (25 µm thick) of the EPH/aerosil/7CB nanocomposite. The light-stimulated electro-optics of EPH-doped aerosil/7CB films and the corresponding reversible light control are achieved through trans-cis-trans photoisomerization of the photoactive agent EPH. As such, the initial electro-optical response of the studied photoactive nanocomposites is recovered with continuous blue-light illumination. The examined EPH/aerosil/7CB nanocomposites exhibit photo-controllable electro-optical response that is of practical interest. L1 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/115310/PDF/main.pdf L2 - http://journals.pan.pl/Content/115310 PY - 2018 IS - No 2 EP - 182 KW - Azo-doped nematic nanocomposites KW - Silica nanoparticles KW - Optical films KW - Electro-optical properties KW - Photo-controllable electro-optics A1 - Hadjichristov, Georgi B. A1 - Marinov, Yordan G. A1 - Petrov, Alexander G. A1 - Prasad, Subbarao Krishna PB - Polish Academy of Sciences (under the auspices of the Committee on Electronics and Telecommunication) and Association of Polish Electrical Engineers in cooperation with Military University of Technology VL - vol. 26 DA - 26.05.2018 T1 - Light-stimulated electro-optics by azo-doped aerosil/7CB nanocomposites SP - 172 UR - http://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/115310 T2 - Opto-Electronics Review ER -