Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol.35, No.13, 1185-1190, 2014
Optical Behaviors of Flexible Photonic Films via the Developed Multiple UV-Exposed Fabrications
Recently, extensive investigations are carried out on design of highly controlled architecture and morphology by polymerizing the monomers doped in well-defined liquid crystalline materials, followed by removal of the template liquid crystal molecules. In this communication, a photonic structure used as a new photonic bandgap (PBG) material is developed by imprinting helical structures on polymer matrices through multiple photocrosslinking processes in an induced chiral nematic mesophase using flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films as substrates. The tuning properties of the reflection band of the imprinted cell are achieved using an uniaxial thermo-stretching equipment. Furthermore, refilling of isotropic materials into the imprinted cells tune the reflection light wavelength leads to the change of color.
Keywords:Bragg reflection;cholesteric liquid crystals;imprinting;photonic crystals;uniaxial thermo-stretching