Photoinduced alignment of azobenzene moieties in the side chains of polyglutamate films

Abstract

The ‘trans↔cis’ reversible photoisomerization process tends to align azobenzene derivatives perpendicular to the polarization direction of the pumping beam. It is shown that in the trans→cis optical transition the cis state is aligned perpendicular to the pumping light polarization. This is shown for spin-coated films of ‘hairy-rod’ polyglutamate with azobenzene moieties in the side chains. Photoselection in both trans and cis states is demonstrated using the attenuated total reflection method.