Nematic Liquid Crystal Film Research Articles

Quantifying spatial alignment and retardation of nematic liquid crystal films by Stokes polarimetry.

Recently developed alignment techniques for liquid crystals enable the definition of arbitrary alignment patterns. We present a method to determine these two-dimensional spatial alignment distributions as well as the retardation of thin nematic liquid crystal films. The method is based on quantifying the influence of the birefringence of such a film on light with known input polarization by measuring the Stokes parameters of light. We show that we are able to distinguish arbitrary alignment patterns unambiguously. In addition, we demonstrate the ability to evaluate the homogeneity of the alignment as well as the thickness or birefringence of the film.

Omnidirectional transport and navigation of Janus particles through a nematic liquid crystal film

We create controllable active particles in the form of metal-dielectric Janus colloids which acquire motility through a nematic liquid crystal film by transducing the energy of an imposed perpendicular AC electric field. We achieve complete command over trajectories by varying field amplitude and frequency, piloting the colloids at will in the plane spanned by the axes of the particle and the nematic. The underlying mechanism exploits the sensitivity of electro-osmotic flow to the asymmetries of the particle surface and the liquid-crystal defect structure. We present a calculation of the dipolar force density produced by the interplay of the electric field with director anchoring and the contrasting electrostatic boundary conditions on the two hemispheres, that accounts for the dielectric-forward (metal-forward) motion of the colloids due to induced puller (pusher) force dipoles. These findings open unexplored directions for the use of colloids and liquid crystals in controlled transport, assembly and collective dynamics.

Vortex confinement transitions in the modified Goldstone model

This paper suggests a new theoretical model, in which topological objects such as vortices, half-vortices, and solitons coexist. They strongly interact and form topological molecules, triggering a confiment/deconfinement topological phase transition. Its findings provide applications to Josephson-junction arrays of superconducting and nematic liquid crystal films

Influence of Substrate Surface Properties on Spin Dewetting, Texture, and Phase Transitions of 5CB Liquid-Crystal Thin Films.

We report how the texture and stability of a nematic liquid-crystal (LC) thin film of 5CB vary as a function of UV-ozone (UVO) exposure of the underlying poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate. UVO exposure of the PMMA substrate not only increases its surface energy, making it more wettable, but also results in the generation of oxygen-containing polar functional groups on the PMMA surface due to photolysis of ester. While the stability of the 5CB films is expectedly enhanced on UVO-exposed PMMA substrates against thermally induced dewetting, the texture of the film also changes as a function of the UV exposure time (tE). We show that the films continue to exhibit the nematic Schlieren texture for tE ≤ 20 min, although the disclination point density (|m|) gradually reduces with an increase in tE. However, the texture changes completely to a spherulite or fanlike texture in tE ≥ 20 min due to enhanced anchoring of the 5CB molecules on the substrates. In addition, enhanced wettability and stronger anchoring by the UVO-exposed PMMA substrates also suppress the tendency of spin dewetting of the 5CB films due to spontaneous rupture of the dispensed solution layer during spin coating, particularly when the solute concentration (Cn) is very low. The latter observation allows possible creation of thinner LC films, which are otherwise difficult to form by spin coating due to enhanced cohesive interactions between the anisotropic LC molecules. Finally, we show that in continuous films, the nematic-to-isotropic (N → I) and I → N phase transitions with gradual heating and cooling remain completely reversible, irrespective of the texture of the film and wettability of the substrate.

Effects of spatially-varying substrate anchoring on instabilities and dewetting of thin nematic liquid crystal films.

Partially wetting nematic liquid crystal (NLC) films on substrates are unstable to dewetting-type instabilities due to destabilizing solid/NLC interaction forces. These instabilities are modified by the nematic nature of the films, which influences the effective solid/NLC interaction. In this work, we focus on the influence of imposed substrate anchoring on the instability development. The analysis is carried out within a long-wave formulation based on the Leslie-Ericksen description of NLC films. Linear stability analysis of the resulting equations shows that some features of the instability, such as emerging wavelengths, may not be influenced by the imposed substrate anchoring. Going further into the nonlinear regime, considered via large-scale GPU-based simulations, shows however that nonlinear effects may play an important role, in particular in the case of strong substrate anchoring anisotropy. Our simulations show that instability of the film develops in two stages: the first stage involves formation of ridges that are perpendicular to the local anchoring direction; and the second involves breakup of these ridges and formation of drops, whose final distribution is influenced by the anisotropy imposed by the substrate. Finally, we show that imposing more complex substrate anisotropy patterns allows us to reach basic understanding of the influence of substrate-imposed defects in director orientation on the instability evolution.

Effect of ZnO dispersion in optical and structural of nematic liquid crystal

Incorporation of zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor particles in liquid crystal technology is advantageous due to its unique optical properties especially in ultraviolet region. In this paper, optical and film morphology of nematic liquid crystal films, 4′-(hexyloxy)-4-biphenylcarbonitrile (6OCB) were analyzed using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, z-scan measurement, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. As expected, dramatic change of absorption in both ultraviolet and visible region were observed upon additional weightage of ZnO particles into the 6OCB mixture. Z-scan measurement obtained under 532 nm CW laser line was used to study nonlinear refractive index, n2 of the material. This ZnO particles incorporation in 6OCB mixture show self-defocusing property with thermal effects as one of its origin of nonlinear absorption occurring at 532 nm. Prominent diffraction peaks of 15°, 29°, 31°, 35° and 47° were measured from rubbed films of 6OCB doped ZnO films which indicated 6OCB and ZnO lattice crystal structures. Microscopic formations of 6OCB molecules is highly dependent with the proximity to the ZnO particle as analyzed by Raman vibrational analysis. These findings can be used to suggest optical and electrical improvement to the liquid crystal film in optoelectronics application as electro-optic modulator and optical switch.

About orientational instability in nematic liquid crystal films

In the presented work the role of the surfacelike (splay-bend) elastic constant in the Frank’s energy of nematic liquid crystals for orientational instability in the thin nematic films is considered. It is shown that nontrivial periodical perturbations exist in the nematic film with undisturbed planar director orientation in case of sufficiently large value of splay-bend constant. For these solutions the relations between splay-bend constant, another Frank’s constants and layer thickness are received and studied. These correlations allow us to make new explanation for certain experimental effects and to present method for surfacelike constant value measurement.

Gradient theory of domain walls in thin, nematic liquid crystals films

In this paper, we describe domain walls appearing in a thin, nematic liquid crystal sample subject to an external field with intensity close to the Fréedericksz transition threshold. Using the gradient theory of the phase transition adapted to this situation, we show that depending on the parameters of the system, domain walls occur in the bistable region or at the border between the bistable and the monostable region.

Study of optical rotation generated by the twisted nematic liquid crystal film: based on circular birefringence effect.

The optical behavior of twisted nematic liquid crystals (TNLCs) is revealed through an angular scanning technique. Experimental results show that the optical rotation and degree of polarization of transmitted light are dependent on the polarization direction of incident light. The optical rotation is reciprocal, i.e., the polarization direction of incident and transmitted light can reciprocate when optical rotation is π/2. In some cases, the optical rotation is zero. The orientation of alignment layers in the TN cell can be determined from the behavior of optical rotation, which agrees with the measurement by an atomic force microscope. The experimental results are explained with the model of circularly polarized light based on the circular birefringence effect. Linearly polarized incident light is the superposition of right- and left-handed circularly polarized light. The propagation velocity of circularly polarized light in the LC is relevant to the polarization direction of incident light, so that the refractive indices of left- and right-handed circularly polarized light, n- and n+, or circular birefringence Δn(=n--n+) are not constants. As a result, when a linearly polarized light with the wavelength λ propagates through a TN cell with the cell gap l, the polarization direction of transmitted light is rotated to an angle Δθ. The optical rotation Δθ(=π(n--n+)l/λ) is dependent on the polarization direction of incident light, whereas the averaged refractive index ⟨n⟩(=(n-+n+)/2) can be independent of that. The incident light is partially linearly polarized light in our experiments, so that the degree of polarization of transmitted light varies with the polarization direction of incident light because the optical rotatory rates for the primary and secondary light beams are different.

Liquid Crystal Templates Combined with Photolithography Enable Synthesis of Chiral Twisted Polymeric Microparticles.

Liquid crystals (LC), when combined with photolithography, enable synthesis of microparticles with 2D and 3D shapes and internal complexities. Films of nematic LCs are prepared using mixtures of reactive (RM257) and non-reactive mesogens with controlled alignment of LCs at the confining surfaces, photo-polymerized the RM257 using a photomask, and then extracted the unreacted mesogens to yield the polymeric microparticles. The extraction results in a controlled anisotropic shrinkage amount dependent on the RM257 content and the direction dependent on LC alignment. Control over the aspect ratio, size, and thickness of the microparticles are obtained with a coefficient of variance less than 2%. In addition, non-parallel LC anchoring at the two surfaces results in a controllable right- or left-handed twisting of microparticles. These methods may find substantial use in applications including drug delivery, emulsions, separations, and sensors, besides their potential in revealing new fundamental concepts in self-assembly and colloidal interactions.

Pulse signal restoration via stochastic resonance in a Fabry-Perot cavity with an intracavity nematic liquid crystal film.

We theoretically propose a method to restore weak pulse signals submerged in noise via stochastic resonance, which is based on the optical bistability induced by the molecule reorientation in a Fabry-Perot cavity with an intracavity nematic liquid-crystal film. The bistable properties of this cavity are analyzed with different reflectance of the mirrors, initial phase shift and initial angle between the phase propagation vector and the director. The cross-correlation coefficient between pure input pulses and output is calculated to quantitatively evaluate the influence of noise intensity on output. The simulation results show a cross-correlation gain of 3.2 and that the buried signal can be recovered effectively by this device. It proves the potential of using this structure to recover noise-hidden pulse signals in an all-optical system.

Colloidal analogues of polymer chains, ribbons and 2D crystals employing orientations and interactions of nano-rods dispersed in a nematic liquid crystal

Robust control over the position, orientation and self-assembly of nonspherical colloids facilitate the creation of new materials with complex architecture that are important from technological and fundamental perspectives. We study orientation, elastic interaction and co-assembly of surface functionalized silica nano-rods in thin films of nematic liquid crystal. With homeotropic boundary condition, the nano-rods are predominantly oriented perpendicular to the nematic director which is different than the mostly parallel orientation of the micro-rods. The percentage of perpendicular nano-rods are significantly larger than the parallel nano-rods. The perpendicular nano-rods create very weak elastic deformation and exhibit unusual, out-of-plane, attractive interaction. On the other hand, the nano-rods oriented parallel to the director create strong elastic deformation and shows anisotropic, in-plane, dipolar interaction. In both orientations, the induced defects reside in the nano-rods. With the help of a dynamic laser tweezers and using nano-rods as building blocks we demonstrate colloidal analogues of linear polymer chains, ribbons and two-dimensional binary crystals.

Polymer dispersed nematic liquid crystal films with conical boundary conditions for electrically controllable polarizers

Polymer dispersed nematic liquid crystal (PDNLC) films with conical boundary conditions at the LC-polymer interface are considered. The conical surface anchoring with tilt angle 40° initiates forming the axial-bipolar director configuration inside nematic droplets. This droplet structure exhibits the strong scattering of light polarized parallel to the bipolar axis. In the initial state, the bipolar axes in all droplets are oriented randomly, and therefore PDNLC film scatters a light of any polarization. Electric field applied along the film plane orients the bipolar axes unidirectionally in the whole droplet ensemble, that results in its high polarization-dependent transmittance. Such PDNLC films can be used in the electrically controllable linear polarizers characterized by 89% value of the transmittance for the perpendicular polarized light and high extinction ratio 590:1 at the electric field 0.34 V/μm.

Computing dynamics of thin films via large scale GPU-based simulations

We present the results of large scale simulations of 4th order nonlinear partial differential equations of diffusion type that are typically encountered when modeling dynamics of thin fluid films on substrates. The simulations are based on the alternate direction implicit (ADI) method, with the main part of the computational work carried out in the GPU computing environment. Efficient and accurate computations allow for simulations on large computational domains in three spatial dimensions (3D) and for long computational times. We apply the methods developed to the particular problem of instabilities of thin fluid films of nanoscale thickness. The large scale of the simulations minimizes the effects of boundaries, and also allows for simulating domains of the size encountered in published experiments. As an outcome, we can analyze the development of instabilities with an unprecedented level of detail. A particular focus is on analyzing the manner in which instability develops, in particular regarding differences between spinodal and nucleation types of dewetting for linearly unstable films, as well as instabilities of metastable films. Simulations in 3D allow for consideration of some recent results that were previously obtained in the 2D geometry [28]. Some of the new results include using Fourier transforms as well as topological invariants (Betti numbers) to distinguish the outcomes of spinodal and nucleation types of instabilities, describing in precise terms the complex processes that lead to the formation of satellite drops, as well as distinguishing the shape of the evolving film front in linearly unstable and metastable regimes. We also discuss direct comparison between simulations and available experimental results for nematic liquid crystal and polymer films.

Dynamic holographic liquid crystal device containing nanoscale CuPc film

ABSTRACTIn this paper, CuPc-film-containing nematic liquid crystal (NLC) cells were fabricated, and dynamic holographic gratings recorded in the NLC cells were studied. The dependence of the diffraction efficiency on the applied voltage, light intensity, and the thicknesses of CuPc and NLC film was investigated. The high diffraction efficiency about 30% and the moderate build-up and erasing time in the order of magnitude of 0.1 s were achieved. The asymmetric energy transferring in two-beam coupling indicates photorefractive (PR) nature of the grating. The results of the photoinduced change of birefringence experiments suggest that the surface charge at the interface between the CuPc film and the NLC film plays a crucial role in the PR effect and the CuPc–NLC interface is mainly responsible for the formation of modulated surface charge layer and enables the photoelectric function of the NLC device. Our research may provide a new material option to optimise and develop NLC device for optical information processing and storage.

The POLICRYPS liquid-crystalline structure for optical applications

Abstract We present a review of polymer-liquid crystal-based devices for optical applications. Starting from a particular fabrication technique, which enables to obtain the POLICRYPS (POlymer LIquid CRYstal Polymer Slices) structure, we illustrate different realizations, along with their working principle and main features and performances. The name POLICRYPS indicates a structure made of parallel slices of pure polymeric material alternated to films of well-aligned nematic liquid crystal (NLC), with a spatial periodicity that can be settled in the range 0.2÷15 μm. Suitably designed samples can be utilized as optical devices with a high efficiency, which can be switched on and off both by applying an electric field of a few V/μm or by irradiating samples with a suitable light beam. In different geometries, POLICRYPS can be specialized to operate as switchable diffraction grating, switchable optical phase modulator, switchable beam splitter, or tunable Bragg filter. The POLICRYPS framework can be also used as a soft matter template for aligning different types of LCs or to create an array of tunable microlasers. Finally, we present a POLICRYPS structure with a polar symmetry of the director alignment, which enables local shaping of light polarization, allowing to convert circularly polarized beams into cylindrical vector beams.

Stability of thin fluid films characterised by a complex form of effective disjoining pressure

We discuss instabilities of fluid films of nanoscale thickness, with a particular focus on films where the destabilising mechanism allows for linear instability, metastability, and absolute stability, depending on the mean film thickness. Our study is motivated by nematic liquid crystal films; however, we note that similar instability mechanisms, and forms of the effective disjoining pressure, appear in other contexts, such as the well-studied problem of polymeric films on two-layered substrates. The analysis is carried out within the framework of the long-wave approximation, which leads to a fourth-order nonlinear partial differential equation for the film thickness. Within the considered formulation, the nematic character of the film leads to an additional contribution to the disjoining pressure, changing its functional form. This effective disjoining pressure is characterised by the presence of a local maximum for non-vanishing film thickness. Such a form leads to complicated instability evolution that we study by analytical means, including the application of marginal stability criteria, and by extensive numerical simulations that help us develop a better understanding of instability evolution in the nonlinear regime. This combination of analytical and computational techniques allows us to reach novel understanding of relevant instability mechanisms, and of their influence on transient and fully developed fluid film morphologies. In particular, we discuss in detail the patterns of drops that form as a result of instability, and how the properties of these patterns are related to the instability mechanisms.

Micro-rotors in nematic liquid crystal films with a free surface

Thermocapillary flow is defined as the mass transfer through the interface of two materials due to the surface tension gradient arising from temperature differences. Circular thermocapillary flow, in particular, has been reported at a free surface in homeotropically oriented nematic liquid crystals. Here, we present a detailed discussion on its coupling properties with the director field and the topographical structure at the free surface in a nematic liquid crystal. We also suggest its significance to every applicable field concerning material transport and manipulation in fluidic devices and methods.

Electric-field-mediated instability modes and Fréedericksz transition of thin nematic films

Instabilities at the deformable free surface of a thin nematic liquid crystal film can develop interesting patterns when exposed to an external electrostatic field. A general linear stability analysis is performed involving the Ericksen–Leslie governing equations for the dynamics of the nematic film coupled with the anisotropic Maxwell stresses for the electric field to uncover the salient features of these instabilities. The study reveals the coexistence of twin instability modes: (i) long-wave interfacial mode – stimulated when the sole destabilizing influence of the electric field overcomes the Frank bulk elasticity and surface tension force, and (ii) finite-wavenumber mode – engendered by the combined destabilizing influence originating from the anisotropic electric field and Ericksen stress, for the films with positive dielectric anisotropy and weaker Frank bulk elasticity. The results reported here are in contrast with the same obtained from the more frequently employed long-wave approach. The air-to-liquid-crystal filling ratio between the electrodes as well as thermodynamic parameters such as the dielectric anisotropy, Frank elasticity, and director orientations across the film and boundaries are found to play crucial roles in the selection of modes, whereas kinetic parameters such as Leslie viscosity coefficients influence only the time scale of instability. Importantly, at higher field intensities a symmetry-breaking Fréedericksz-type transition of director orientations is found to happen, which also causes the transition of the dominant mode of instability from the long-wave to the finite-wavenumber mode for films with relatively lower values of Frank bulk elasticity and positive dielectric anisotropy.

Aspect ratio effect on electroconvection in a suspended liquid crystal film with a rectangular boundary

The aspect ratio dependence of the electroconvection phenomenon in a suspended nematic liquid crystal film with a rectangular boundary is investigated. Two-dimensional global stability analysis is carried out on the coupled electrohydrodynamic system to calculate the instability boundary of the phenomenon for different aspect ratios. The calculated critical $R$ number (Rayleigh-like number) shows a rapidly decreasing trend in the low-aspect-ratio region (roughly $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}<1.5$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ is defined as the aspect ratio of the film), and then the variation becomes slow until $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}\approx 2.5$, where the critical $R$ number starts to increase slightly. Convective patterns of liquid films with different aspect ratios are also obtained from stability analysis and validated by particle image velocimetry measurement.