LCs can be efficiently manipulated with focused laser light in hybridized samples with photovoltaic fields:

Light valving and a connection to non-linear optics

Open Access: L. Jiao, D. R. Evans, A. Lorenz, Photovoltaic light valve induced in a vertically aligned nematic liquid crystal on a x-cut Fe:LiNbO₃ substrate, Journal Optical Data Processing and Storage (Special Issue: Photosensitive Soft Materials and Devices - Fundamentals and Applications, edited by A. Kiraz and L. Lucchetti) 4, 8 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1515/odps-2018-0002

Erasable patterns in a N* LC

Open Access: A. Habibpourmoghadam, L. Lucchetti, D. R. Evans, V. Y. Reshetnyak, A. Lorenz, Laser-induced erasable patterns in a N* liquid crystal on an iron doped lithium niobate surface, Optics Express 25, 26148 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.25.026148

Confined photo generated fields

Invited paper: A. Habibpourmoghadam, L. Jiao, F. Omairat, D. R. Evans, V. Y. Reshetnyak, A. Lorenz, Confined photovoltaic fields in a photo-responsive liquid crystal test cell, Liquid Crystals XXI, Proceedings Volume 10361, 1036112 (2017). http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding.aspx?doi=10.1117/12.2273990

Optical manipulation and defect creation

A. Habibpourmoghadam, L. Jiao, V. Reshetnyak, D. R. Evans, A. Lorenz, Optical manipulation and defect creation in a liquid crystal on a photo responsive surface, Physical Review E 96, 022701 (2017). https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.022701

Polymer LC composites

F. Jahanbakhsh, A. Lorenz, Impact of co-doping concentration in copolymer network liquid crystals, Liquid Crystals, published online (2019). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2019.1573330   

Invited paper: L. Braun, Z. Gong, A. Habibpourmoghadam, S. L. Schafforz, L. Wolfram, A. Lorenz, Polymerization speed and diffractive experiments in polymer network LC test cells, in I. Muševič, L.-C. Chien, D. J. Broer, and V. G. Chigrinov, eds. (SPIE, 2018), p. 22.

L. Braun, S. L. Schafforz, A. Lorenz, Surface grafted crosslinker in polymer network liquid crystals, Journal of Molecular Liquids 267, 109 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.01.173

Nematic liquid crystals can show continuous phase modulation properties and surprisingly fast response times (well below 2 ms) if doped with a tailored mixture of insitu generated copolymer. Mixture composition and curing conditions are challenging research topics with a potential to push smart windows technology, displays and also bistable devices. 

See: A. Lorenz, L. Braun, V. Kolosova, "Continuous Optical Phase Modulation in a Copolymer Network Nematic Liquid Crystal." ACS Photonics 3, 1188 (2016). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00072