Nematic Liquid Crystal Alignment Behaviors between Crossed Stretched Miropolymer Filaments with Anchoring Effects

Abstract

We observed the molecular alignment of a liquid crystal (LC) induced by crossing two stretched micropolymer filaments between glass substrates and confirmed its light modulation property. The two microfilaments, which were extracted from a cellulose cloth by stretching it in advance, had surface molecular alignment and stabilized nematic LC alignment between the microfilaments crossed with a small angle. In the fabricated LC cell, a spatially-uniform LC planar alignment is achieved in the area of a filament interval of less than 60 µm. By polarizing microscopy observation of the isotropic-to-nematic wetting transition of the LC material between the polymer filaments, it was confirmed that the stable LC alignment area is formed by the surface anchoring of the filaments. When external voltages were applied to the obtained uniformed alignment LC area, a characteristic periodic electrooptic property was confirmed on the basis of electrically-controlled birefringence under the alignment control of the in-plane anchoring of the filaments.