Surface anchoring effects on spectral broadening of cholesteric liquid crystal films

Abstract

This paper describes the spectral broadening of cholesteric liquid crystal film prepared from a blend comprising a cross-linkable liquid crystal polymer and a non-cross-linkable low-molecular-weight liquid crystal. The spectral broadening arises from the formation of gradient pitch across the film thickness. It is shown that both phase-separation and in situ swelling during photopolymerization are important mechanisms for the resulting film structure. The surface anchoring is important to achieve high wavelength- and polarization-selective reflectance.