Permanent photoalignment of liquid crystals on nanostructured chalcogenide glassy thin films

Journal Article · Mon Feb 14 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3555630· OSTI ID:21518284

Gelbaor, Miri; Abdulhalim, I ^[1]; Klebanov, Matvey; Lyubin, Victor ^[2]

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1. Department of Electro-Optic Engineering, The Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer-Sheeva (Israel)
2. Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer-Sheva (Israel)

Photoalignment of nematic liquid crystals is obtained on the chalcogenide glassy thin film of As{sub 2}S{sub 3} using irradiation with polarized blue light. A uniform homogeneously aligned device is obtained with high contrast and strong anchoring. The device alignment quality is permanent as checked by following its functionality over a period of few months. The origin of the observed photoalignment is attributed to the photoinduced anisotropy in chalcogenide glasses. No differences between the different As{sub 2}S{sub 3} film thicknesses observed, thus supporting the proposition that some orientational order is photoinduced on the surface of the glass and responsible for the photoalignment.

• OSTI ID: 21518284
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3555630; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ALIGNMENT
ANISOTROPY
ARSENIC SULFIDES
EQUIPMENT
FASTENING
GLASS
IRRADIATION
LIQUID CRYSTALS
NANOSTRUCTURES
PHOTOCHEMISTRY
POLARIZED BEAMS
SURFACES
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
VISIBLE RADIATION
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
BEAMS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMISTRY
CRYSTALS
DIMENSIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FABRICATION
FILMS
FLUIDS
JOINING
LIQUIDS
RADIATIONS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS