Premium
Ideal Polymer‐LC Composite Structure for Terahertz Phase Shifters
Author(s) -
Inoue Yo,
Kubo Hitoshi,
Shikada Tateaki,
Moritake Hiroshi
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/mame.201800766
Subject(s) - materials science , liquid crystal , polymer , terahertz radiation , mesogen , composite number , phase (matter) , polymerization , fabrication , monomer , optoelectronics , composite material , liquid crystalline , organic chemistry , chemistry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
An ideal polymer/liquid crystal (LC) composite structure for terahertz phase shifters is proposed, and the fabrication method of the ideal structure using polymerization induced phase separation is reported. The ideal structure consists of four significant factors: i) the polymer structure surrounds LC droplets like polymer dispersed liquid crystals; ii) the size of the LC droplets is on the order of micrometers; iii) the polymer concentration is much lower than LC concentration like polymer‐stabilized liquid crystals; and iv) the nematic director both within and among the LC droplets has the same orientation. Such a structure is fabricated by photopolymerizing a nematic LC doped with 7 wt% mesogenic monomer under a critical temperature slightly lower than the clearing point of the LC mixture. The polymer/LC composite demonstrates both a short decay response time of 80 ms and a phase shift of 30° for terahertz wave at a frequency of 0.4 THz. Additionally, the transmission loss of the composite for the terahertz wave is discussed.