Advanced Materials · 2000 · 66 citations · 0 references
A new class of mixtures of liquid-crystalline (LC) materials and polymersis presented, consisting of sub-micrometer sized, internally crosslinked polymeric particles (see Figure) dispersed in a continuous (completely phase-separate) LC phase. Initial electro-optical experiments with these “polymer-filled nematics” indicate that their light-scattering properties can be controlled with the application of an electrical field.