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Novel Reverse‐Mode Light Switching of (Pseudo Side‐Chain Liquid Crystalline Copolymer Resulting in Spontaneous Homeotropic Alignment/Liquid Crystals) Composite System
Author(s) -
Yamane H.,
Kikuchi H.,
Kajiyama T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
sid symposium digest of technical papers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2168-0159
pISSN - 0097-966X
DOI - 10.1889/1.1834110
Subject(s) - homeotropic alignment , materials science , liquid crystal , electric field , opacity , composite number , optics , copolymer , light scattering , optoelectronics , scattering , composite material , polymer , physics , quantum mechanics
Abstract A new reverse‐mode light switching (transparent and opaque in undriven and driven states, respectively) has been demonstrated for the binary composite system composed of a pseudo side‐chain liquid crystalline copolymer (pseudo‐LCcoP) resulting in spontaneous homeotropic alignment and low‐molecular‐weight liquid crystals (LCs). The cell with the spontaneous homeotropic alignment showed a transparent state due to a homeotropic anchoring of the pseudo‐LCcoP at the surfaces of glass substrates. On the other hand, when a dc electric field was applied, the composite film became opaque due to the fluctuation of smectic like short‐range order fragments being formed by the side chain part of the pseudo‐LCcoP and the LCs. This light scattering state may arise from electric hydrodynamic motion of the smectic layer based on an electric current effect.