In this work, we have used photoelectron spectroscopy and time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy to study the conversion process of dichroic self organized molecule films formed from a lyotropic liquid crystal solution with BaCl2. This conversion process changes the material from water soluble to water insoluble by a cross linking polymerization. Our results show that the conversion is complete and that the remaining ammonium and chloride ions are completely removed after the conversion. The ToF-SIMS measurements show a constant amount of barium through the crystal film indicating a complete conversation through the film. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.