Electrically controlled optical Tamm states in magnetophotonic crystal based on nematic liquid crystals.

A tunable optical Tamm state is investigated in a magnetophotonic crystal with nematic liquid crystals. It is revealed that the intra-Brillouin-zone bandgaps exist and clearly depend on the applied voltages. We find that the optical Tamm state does occur at the boundary between two photonic crystals, one of which is composed of two dielectric materials and the other that consists of a nematic liquid crystal and a magnetic material. A shift of the optical Tamm state with the applied voltage, which stems from the change in the dielectric permittivity of the nematic liquid crystal, is observed. This novel scheme offers a possibility of controlling the optical Tamm state in magnetophotonic crystals induced by nematic liquid crystals.