Role of homeotropic alignment strength at the air interface of polymerized liquid crystal layers
- Author
- Xiangyu Xue (UGent) , Brecht Berteloot, Miglė Stebrytė (UGent) , Kristiaan Neyts (UGent) and Jeroen Beeckman (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- Liquid crystal thin films obtained by spincoating and photopolymerization are widely used nowadays for geometric phase optical components. The liquid crystal-air interface during photopolymerization plays a crucial role as it should not disturb the photoalignment induced by the other interface. When photopolymerizing the liquid crystal layer in vacuum, processing parameters need to be optimized carefully to avoid alignment issues at the air interface. In this work we demonstrate that domains are formed due to a tilt angle which is induced at the air interface under certain conditions. A measurement method is developed to quantify the tilt angle at the interface. The method consists of optical analysis of the domains using crossed-polarizer transmission microscopy with an oblique sample holder. By careful analysis of the obtained tilt angles for different parameters, it is assumed that a non-negligible homeotropic anchoring strength at the air interface is responsible for the domain formation. The results are explained with a theoretical model that assumes a finite anchoring strength at both the photoaligned interface and the air interface.
- Keywords
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, LENS, CELL
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8727101
- MLA
- Xue, Xiangyu, et al. “Role of Homeotropic Alignment Strength at the Air Interface of Polymerized Liquid Crystal Layers.” OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS, vol. 11, no. 12, 2021, pp. 4036–50, doi:10.1364/ome.444683.
- APA
- Xue, X., Berteloot, B., Stebrytė, M., Neyts, K., & Beeckman, J. (2021). Role of homeotropic alignment strength at the air interface of polymerized liquid crystal layers. OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS, 11(12), 4036–4050. https://doi.org/10.1364/ome.444683
- Chicago author-date
- Xue, Xiangyu, Brecht Berteloot, Miglė Stebrytė, Kristiaan Neyts, and Jeroen Beeckman. 2021. “Role of Homeotropic Alignment Strength at the Air Interface of Polymerized Liquid Crystal Layers.” OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS 11 (12): 4036–50. https://doi.org/10.1364/ome.444683.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Xue, Xiangyu, Brecht Berteloot, Miglė Stebrytė, Kristiaan Neyts, and Jeroen Beeckman. 2021. “Role of Homeotropic Alignment Strength at the Air Interface of Polymerized Liquid Crystal Layers.” OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS 11 (12): 4036–4050. doi:10.1364/ome.444683.
- Vancouver
- 1.Xue X, Berteloot B, Stebrytė M, Neyts K, Beeckman J. Role of homeotropic alignment strength at the air interface of polymerized liquid crystal layers. OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS. 2021;11(12):4036–50.
- IEEE
- [1]X. Xue, B. Berteloot, M. Stebrytė, K. Neyts, and J. Beeckman, “Role of homeotropic alignment strength at the air interface of polymerized liquid crystal layers,” OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS, vol. 11, no. 12, pp. 4036–4050, 2021.
@article{8727101,
abstract = {{Liquid crystal thin films obtained by spincoating and photopolymerization are widely used nowadays for geometric phase optical components. The liquid crystal-air interface during photopolymerization plays a crucial role as it should not disturb the photoalignment induced by the other interface. When photopolymerizing the liquid crystal layer in vacuum, processing parameters need to be optimized carefully to avoid alignment issues at the air interface. In this work we demonstrate that domains are formed due to a tilt angle which is induced at the air interface under certain conditions. A measurement method is developed to quantify the tilt angle at the interface. The method consists of optical analysis of the domains using crossed-polarizer transmission microscopy with an oblique sample holder. By careful analysis of the obtained tilt angles for different parameters, it is assumed that a non-negligible homeotropic anchoring strength at the air interface is responsible for the domain formation. The results are explained with a theoretical model that assumes a finite anchoring strength at both the photoaligned interface and the air interface.}},
author = {{Xue, Xiangyu and Berteloot, Brecht and Stebrytė, Miglė and Neyts, Kristiaan and Beeckman, Jeroen}},
issn = {{2159-3930}},
journal = {{OPTICAL MATERIALS EXPRESS}},
keywords = {{Electronic,Optical and Magnetic Materials,LENS,CELL}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{12}},
pages = {{4036--4050}},
title = {{Role of homeotropic alignment strength at the air interface of polymerized liquid crystal layers}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1364/ome.444683}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2021}},
}
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