Discontinuous anchoring transition as a novel phenomenon in liquid crystals - molecular dynamics at surfaces and applications -

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23685042
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Functional materials/Devices
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (2013-2014); Tokyo Institute of Technology (2011-2012)
• Principal Investigator: ARAOKA Fumito 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 創発物性科学研究センター, ユニットリーダー (10467029)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 液晶 / 有機材料光物性 / 表界面物性 / 非線形光学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, we reported a new thermal transition phenomenon in liquid crystal (LC) cells using a specific combination of LC- and surface-coating materials, that is, nematic LC CCN-47 and perfluoropolymer CYTOP. This phenomenon (now known as "discontinuous anchoring transition"), observed as an abrupt molecular orientation change between homeotropic and planar states by cooling or heating, was investigated by means of high-resolution differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction (GI-XRD), as well as careful polarization microscopy. These experiments revealed; (1) different molecular orientations, homeotropic and planar at the surfaces, have different thermodynamic free energies; (2) the discontinuous anchoring transition occurs through the formation of quasismectic layers parallel to surfaces in the nematic phase. We also discussed the possible applications utilizing this phenomenon such as rewritable displays driven by light-induced heat.

Free Research Field

有機材料物性