Chiral power change upon photoisomerization in twisted nematic liquid crystals

In this work, we use the photoisomerization of azobenzenes, a phenanthrospirooxazine, and a fulgide in a twisted nematic liquid crystalline phase to change the chiral twisting power of the system. The changes are probed by the rotatory power of linearly polarized light. Time resolved and steady stat...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Simoncelli, S., Aramendía, P.F.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_13861425_v142_n_p94_Simoncelli
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, we use the photoisomerization of azobenzenes, a phenanthrospirooxazine, and a fulgide in a twisted nematic liquid crystalline phase to change the chiral twisting power of the system. The changes are probed by the rotatory power of linearly polarized light. Time resolved and steady state experiments are carried out. The chiral change and the photoisomerization process have similar characteristic recovery times and activation energy, thus probing that the change is induced by the modification in the chemical composition of the photochromic dopant system. The amplitude of the light twisting power change correlates with the order change in the liquid crystal (LC) but not with the modification in the absorption characteristics of the system. This indicates that the driving force of the chiral change is the microscopic order modification in the LC phase that affects the helical pitch of the phase. © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.