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Mechanical deformation of a liquid crystal diffraction grating in an elastic polymer
Author(s) -
De Rosa Michael E.,
Tondiglia Vincent P.,
Natarajan Lalgudi V.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19980425)68:4<523::aid-app2>3.0.co;2-o
Subject(s) - materials science , photopolymer , liquid crystal , diffraction , shearing (physics) , composite material , perpendicular , polymer , diffraction efficiency , optics , deformation (meteorology) , diffraction grating , grating , optoelectronics , physics , geometry , mathematics , polymerization
Abstract We demonstrate the tuning of the diffraction efficiency in a polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) diffraction grating by mechanical shear deformation. We chose a photocurable thermoset with elastic mechanical properties as the host material to demonstrate the tuning effect. Raman–Nath gratings were prepared by anisotropically curing a mixture of commercial photopolymer doped with liquid crystal. The mixture was contained between glass slides which were mounted in a simple shearing device. During the photopolymerization, the liquid crystal phase separated into 2‐μm droplets organized into channels with 3.8‐μm spacing. Gratings were deformed by shearing the samples in a direction perpendicular to the channel orientation. The diffraction intensity and morphology were monitored as a function of shear strain. Reversible tuning was observed due to the elastic nature of the matrix. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 68: 523–526, 1998