Cholesteric liquid crystals doped with gold nanoparticles

Rajaa Bitar; Gonzague Agez; Michel Mitov

doi:10.1117/12.928359

11 October 2012 Cholesteric liquid crystals doped with gold nanoparticles

Rajaa Bitar, Gonzague Agez, Michel Mitov

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8475, Liquid Crystals XVI; 847503 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.928359
Event: SPIE Organic Photonics + Electronics, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The reflection color of a cholesteric liquid crystal depends on material parameters such as the molecular chirality or the concentration of chiral dopant, the helical pitch of the twisted structure and the optical indices. We show that the color may be selected simply by varying the annealing time of an open cholesteric oligomer film with hybrid anchoring. The 3D representation of the structure is provided by combining complementary imaging techniques. The color selectivity is due to controlled changes of the orientation of the helix axis with respect to the air-material interface. Potential applications are chiral microreflectors and microlenses. Then, we demonstrate the symbiotic association of gold nanoparticles within such cholesteric textures and their long-range self-organized arrangements. We show that the nanoparticles can be patterned on demand only by playing with the film thickness and the interfacial properties of the CLC film. We investigate how the selective reflection is affected by the in situ organization of gold nanoparticles and what is the plasmon response of nanoparticle chains. Potential applications are envisioned in the field of soft nanotechnology and optical materials.

Citation Download Citation

Rajaa Bitar, Gonzague Agez, and Michel Mitov "Cholesteric liquid crystals doped with gold nanoparticles", Proc. SPIE 8475, Liquid Crystals XVI, 847503 (11 October 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.928359

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