Photochemical Image Storage in Polymer Liquid Crystals
- 5 October 1988
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Chemistry Letters
- Vol. 17 (10) , 1679-1682
- https://doi.org/10.1246/cl.1988.1679
Abstract
Amplified optical image storage has been demonstrated in polymer liquid crystals (PLC). A small amount (< 5 mol%) of a low molecular weight mesogen with a photoresponsive moiety, 4-butyl-4′-methoxyazobenzene (BMAB), was doped in the films of polyacrylates with mesogenic side chain, poly(4′-methoxyphenyl-4-acryloyloxyalkoxybenzoate)(PAn), in which the alkyl spacer length (CH2)n was varied as n = 2, 3, 5, and 6. Photoirradiation of the PA3/BMAB film with a 366 nm light caused trans→cis isomerization of BMAB, which induced simultaneously the nematic (N)→isotropic phase transition of the PLC films. This photochemically induced phase transition was reversible and photoirradiation with a 525 nm light which induced cis→trans isomerization restored the system to the initial phase (N). The photo-induced phase transition was found to be strongly dependent on molecular weight of the host PLC and temperature.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reversible digital and holographic optical storage in polymeric liquid crystalsDie Makromolekulare Chemie, Rapid Communications, 1987
- Photochemically triggered physical amplification of photoresponsivenessThe Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1987
- Photophysiological functions of visual pigmentsAdvances in Biophysics, 1984
- Synthesis and phase behaviour of liquid crystalline polyacrylatesDie Makromolekulare Chemie, 1982