Effect of the ratio between monoacrylate and diacrylate reactive mesogen on the transmission spectrum of polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal

Abstract

We investigated the effect of the relative ratio between the diacrylate (DA) and the monoacrylate (MA) reactive mesogen (RM) molecules on the transmission spectrum of polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal (PSCLC). The reflection color from the top substrate where the UV was exposed was shifted from red to green with increasing the fraction of DA. It was also found that the PSCLC sample with the fraction of DA over 5 wt% formed 2-dimensional poly-grain textures on the bottom substrate. The periodicity of the grains was about 1-2 μm with the consequence of a light-scattering optical texture of the PSCLC sample. By optimizing the relative fraction between MA and DA, we could obtain a vivid broadband PSCLC sample without a scattering of light.