Journal article
Examination of Nanostructured Polymer Surfaces for Liquid Crystal Alignment
Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Vol.49(1)
01 Mar 2004
Abstract
A crucial factor governing the electrical as well as optical efficiency of liquid crystal (LC) based devices is the alignment of the LC on the substrate. This surface alignment propagates to the bulk LC, and is responsible for many of the optical properties responsible for device performance. Conventionally, alignment has been influenced by rubbing the substrate or by chemical treatment. However, the exact nature of the alignment remains an unanswered question. In this paper, nano-patterned polymer structures coupled with image analysis techniques are used to probe the alignment of LCs on assorted non-smooth surfaces. The nano-patterned structures provide varying confinement configurations which affect the LC alignment. The morphologies reported in this paper are rectangular grids and parallel grooves (rectangular and triangular) with multiple side-wall orientations, produced on PMMA and urethane resins. All results are compared to conventional rubbed morphologies on polyimide. Pattern generation was achieved using an MTS Nano-Indenter and characterizing was by Atomic Force Microscope. Polarizing Optical Microscopy was used to track the alignment changes of LC in the patterns after deposition. Image analysis will be used to classify the alignment orientation to within one degree.
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Details
- Title
- Examination of Nanostructured Polymer Surfaces for Liquid Crystal Alignment
- Creators
- Adam FontecchioHemang Shah
- Publication Details
- Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Vol.49(1)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Identifiers
- 991020532095604721