Fig. 1. LC refractive-index gradient waveguide. （a） Schematic of the molecular arrangement， the arrow indicating the laser transmission direction； （b） Refractive index distribution corresponding to the molecular arrangement within the LC waveguide.

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the 1×2 equal power beam splitter

Fig. 3. Textures of LCP 1 × 2 equal power beam splitter under polarized optical microscope. （a） Beam splitting spacing 160 μm； （b） Beam splitting spacing 80 μm. The scale bar is 100 μm.

Fig. 4. Propagation of 633 nm laser in LCP equal power beam splitter. （a） Beam splitting spacing 160 μm； （b） Beam splitting spacing 80 μm. The scale bar is 100 μm.

Fig. 5. Variation of laser intensity at the output end of the LCP equal-power beam splitter with y-axis position. （a） Split beam spacing 160 μm； （b） Split beam spacing 80 μm.

Fig. 6. LCP 1 × 4 equal power beam splitter. （a） Texture under polarized optical microscope； （b） Transmission and beam splitting effect of 633 nm laser in it.

Fig. 7. Light intensity distribution at each output port of the LCP 1×4 equal power beam splitter