This review presents the main results that were achieved over the past decade in the new field of liquid-crystal micro-photonics. After a general introduction to some aspects of state-of-the-art micro-photonics technologies, nematic colloids are discussed in terms of their self-assembly and photonic properties. Liquid-crystal lasers, based on spatially periodic, liquid-crystal phases, are reviewed, and microlasers based on liquid-crystal microdroplets are presented and discussed. We show that optical microfibres can be self-grown in water/liquid-crystal dispersions and present their waveguiding and lasing properties. The review concludes with a discussion of the resonant transfer of light across different liquid-crystal micro-objects and presents the ultra-fast optical Kerr and STED effects in bulk nematic liquid crystals.

这篇综述介绍了过去十年在液晶微光子学的新领域中取得的主要成果。在对最先进的微光子技术的某些方面进行了一般性介绍之后，就向列胶体的自组装和光子特性进行了讨论。回顾了基于空间周期性液晶相的液晶激光器，并提出并讨论了基于液晶微滴的微激光器。我们表明，光学微纤维可以在水/液晶分散体中自生，并呈现出其波导和激射特性。本文以讨论光在不同液晶微物体之间的共振转移作为结束，并提出了块状向列液晶中的超快光学Kerr和STED效应。