Recent improvements on the preparation of silica gel-glass dispersed liquid crystals (GDLC) are presented. In these materials, liquid crystal microdroplets are trapped into a silica matrix. The feasibility of using these devices as electrooptical shutters is studied. It has been found that GDLC optical transmission and switching can be improved by addition of titanium monomers to the starting reactants employed in GDLC preparation. On the other hand, switching times are reduced by addition of ethanol. The influence of these dopants on droplet size is also studied.
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