Piezo-optical and electro-optical behaviour of nematic liquid crystals dispersed in a ferroelectric copolymer matrix

Lakshmi Meena Ganesan, Werner Wirges, Axel Mellinger, Reimund Gerhard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) are composite materials that consist of micrometre-sized liquid-crystal (LC) droplets embedded in a polymer matrix. From ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) and a nematic LC, PDLC films containing 10 and 60 wt% LC were prepared, and their electro-optical and piezo-optical behaviour was investigated. The electric field that is generated by the application of mechanical stress leads to changes in the transmittance of the PDLC film through a combination of piezoelectric and electro-optical effects. Such a piezo-optical PDLC material may be useful, e.g., in sensing and visualization applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number015401
JournalJournal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume43
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

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