Laser manipulation in liquid crystals: an approach to microfluidics and micromachines

2006 ◽  
Vol 364 (1847) ◽  
pp. 2789-2805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen F Gleeson ◽  
Tiffany A Wood ◽  
Mark Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Laser Tweezers ◽  
Fluid Medium ◽  
Circularly Polarized Light ◽  
Viscosity Coefficients ◽  
Linearly Polarized ◽  
Local Shear

Laser trapping of particles in three dimensions can occur as a result of the refraction of strongly focused light through micrometre-sized particles. The use of this effect to produce laser tweezers is extremely common in fields such as biology, but it is only relatively recently that the technique has been applied to liquid crystals (LCs). The possibilities are exciting: droplets of LCs can be trapped, moved and rotated in an isotropic fluid medium, or both particles and defects can be trapped and manipulated within a liquid crystalline medium. This paper considers both the possibilities. The mechanism of transfer of optical angular momentum from circularly polarized light to small droplets of nematic LCs is described. Further, it is shown that droplets of chiral LCs can be made to rotate when illuminated with linearly polarized light and possible mechanisms are discussed. The trapping and manipulation of micrometre-sized particles in an aligned LC medium is used to provide a measure of local shear viscosity coefficients and a unique test of theory at low Ericksen number in LCs.

Texture of cholesteric cellulosic gels and films observed by electron microscopy

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 1104-1105
Author(s):  
Julie Giasson ◽  
Jean-François Revol ◽  
Derek G. Gray
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Cellulose Derivatives ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Circularly Polarized Light ◽  
Liquid Crystalline Phases ◽  
Helicoidal Structure

It is now well known that cellulose derivatives form cholesteric liquid crystalline phases in the bulk and in solution. The supramolecular arrangement of the cholesteric materials gives them unique optical properties. Light entering the cholesteric domain is partially reflected. Circularly-polarized light with the same handedness as the helicoidal structure and a wavelength corresponding to the cholesteric pitch will be reflected by the mesophase. Free-standing films displaying a cholesteric order are thus strongly desirable for many different applications.Even though transmission electron microscopy (TEM) seems to be the perfect technique to extend results obtained by optical microscopy, this approach has been used infrequently in the study of liquid crystals. Liquid crystals don't lend themselves to electron microscopy because of their fluidity. Lyotropic systems are destroyed by evaporation of the solvent under high vacuum. However, under specific conditions, solid cellulosic films can retain a helicoidal organization. Classical embedding and ultra-sectioning can thus be applied on such materials as long as they do not dissolve in water.

Studies Of Orientational Order Of Some Nematogens By Means Of Raman Scattering Spectroscopy

2004 ◽  
Vol 59 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 510-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Chrzumnicka ◽  
Mirosław Szybowicz ◽  
Danuta Bauman
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Raman Scattering ◽  
Orientational Order ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Raman Scattering Spectroscopy ◽  
Linearly Polarized ◽  
Scattering Spectra ◽  
Raman Scattering Spectra ◽  
Molecular Distribution Function

The orientational behaviour of some liquid crystals with various molecular structures was studied by means of the Raman scattering depolarization method. The Raman scattering spectra of linearly polarized light were recorded as a function of temperature in the nematic phase. On the basis of these spectra the order parameters 〈P2〉 and 〈P4〉 as well as the molecular distribution function were determined. The obtained data were compared with those estimated on the basis of polarized light absorption and emission measurements. The influence of the molecular structure on the orientational order of liquid crystals was discussed.

scholarly journals Patterns and properties of polarized light in air and water

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1565) ◽  
pp. 619-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Cronin ◽  
Justin Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Polarized Light ◽  
Natural Scenes ◽  
Circularly Polarized Light ◽  
Circularly Polarized ◽  
Current State ◽  
Visual Systems ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Predictable Pattern ◽  
Linearly Polarized ◽  
Polarization Of Light

Natural sources of light are at best weakly polarized, but polarization of light is common in natural scenes in the atmosphere, on the surface of the Earth, and underwater. We review the current state of knowledge concerning how polarization and polarization patterns are formed in nature, emphasizing linearly polarized light. Scattering of sunlight or moonlight in the sky often forms a strongly polarized, stable and predictable pattern used by many animals for orientation and navigation throughout the day, at twilight, and on moonlit nights. By contrast, polarization of light in water, while visible in most directions of view, is generally much weaker. In air, the surfaces of natural objects often reflect partially polarized light, but such reflections are rarer underwater, and multiple-path scattering degrades such polarization within metres. Because polarization in both air and water is produced by scattering, visibility through such media can be enhanced using straightforward polarization-based methods of image recovery, and some living visual systems may use similar methods to improve vision in haze or underwater. Although circularly polarized light is rare in nature, it is produced by the surfaces of some animals, where it may be used in specialized systems of communication.

scholarly journals Thermocapillary Marangoni Flows in Azopolymers

Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2464
Author(s):  
Andrzej Miniewicz ◽  
Anna Sobolewska ◽  
Wojciech Piotrowski ◽  
Pawel Karpinski ◽  
Stanislaw Bartkiewicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
Polymer Surface ◽  
Polarized Light ◽  
Marangoni Effect ◽  
Mass Motion ◽  
Polymeric Liquid ◽  
Force Microscopy ◽  
Atomic Force ◽  
Linearly Polarized

It is well known that light-induced multiple trans-cis-trans photoisomerizations of azobenzene derivatives attached to various matrices (polymeric, liquid crystalline polymers) result in polymer mass movement leading to generation of surface reliefs. The reliefs can be produced at small as well as at large light intensities. When linearly polarized light is used in the process, directional photo-induced molecular orientation of the azo molecules occurs, which leads to the generation of optical anisotropy in the system, providing that thermal effects are negligible. On the other hand, large reliefs are observed at relatively strong laser intensities when the optofluidization process is particularly effective. In this article, we describe the competitive thermocapillary Marangoni effect of polymer mass motion. We experimentally prove that the Marangoni effect occurs simultaneously with the optofluidization process. It destroys the orientation of the azopolymer molecules and results in cancelation of the photo-induced birefringence. Our experimental observations of polymer surface topography with atomic force microscopy are supported by suitable modelings.

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