Control of the microstructure of polymer network and effects of the microstructures on light scattering properties of UV‐cured polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal films

Polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) films were prepared from ultraviolet (UV) irradiation‐induced polymerization of the photopolymerizable monomers in photopolymerizable monomers/nematic liquid crystal (LC) mixtures. The effects of the composition of the mixtures, the curing temperature, and the UV light intensity on the microstructure of the polymer network in the PDLC films were investigated. Furthermore, the effects of the microstructures on the light scattering properties of the PDLC films in the wavelength region of 300–2500 nm were studied experimentally and theoretically based on the combination of three kinds of classical light scattering theories: the Rayleigh‐Gans (RG) approach, the anomalous diffraction (AD) approach, and the geometrical optics (GO) approach. It was found that the sizes of LC domain in PDLC films increased with the increase of the LC content as well as the decrease of the UV curing intensity, while increased at first and then decreased with the increase of the curing temperature. Moreover, smaller LC domain sizes could exhibit strong scattering properties in a smaller VIS wavelength region and the transmittance in NIR region (especially in the wavelength range of 1300–2500 nm) obviously decreased with the increasing sizes of LC domain. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 2090–2099, 2008     

Effect of molecular weight of macro‐iniferter on electro‐optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal films prepared by iniferter polymerization

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films were prepared by a devised method, in which photo‐polymerization induced phase separation in a mixtures of a macro‐iniferter, methyl acrylater, and liquid crystal. The morphology of the obtained PDLC films was examined on a polarized optical microscopy, and the effect of molecular weight of MIs on the electro‐optical properties was deliberately investigated. Decreasing the molecular weight of MIs in the films led to formation of larger liquid crystal droplets and a lower V_th values. V_sat increased and the memory effect decreased because of the increased interface anchoring strength induced by the higher molecular weight of polymer matrices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1530–1534, 2009     

Dye-dependent studies on droplet pattern and electro-optic behaviour of polymer dispersed liquid crystal

In order to study the droplet pattern and electro-optic (EO) behaviour of polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) with the addition of dye, dichroic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (DPDLC) films were prepared using a nematic liquid crystal (NLC), photo-curable polymer (NOA 65) and anthraquinone blue dichroic dye (B2), in equal ratio (1:1) of polymer and liquid crystal (LC) by polymerisation induced phase separation (PIPS) technique. Dichroic dye was taken in different concentration (wt./wt. ratio) as 0.0625%, 0.125%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% of the LC mixture in DPDLC films. Initially, in an open circuit when there is no proviso for external electric field (0 V), LC droplets in polymer matrix exhibited bipolar pattern, though on closing the circuit with the increase of electric field pattern of droplets starts changing, LC molecules align along the direction of applied electric field and aligned completely relatively at higher field (30 V), which illustrate vertical radial pattern. Further, results show that the DPDLC film containing 0.0625% dye concentration with consistent average droplet size ~4.30 μm, exhibits the best transmission at lower operating voltage.     

Director configurations in nematic droplets with tilted surface anchoring

The polymer dispersed nematic liquid crystal (LC) with the tilted surface anchoring has been studied. The droplet orientational structures with two point surface defects – boojums and the surface ring defect – are formed within the films. The director tilt angle α = 40° ± 4° at the droplet interface and LC surface anchoring strength W_s ~ 10^–6 (J m^?2) have been estimated. The bipolar axes within the studied droplets of oblate ellipsoidal form can be randomly oriented are oriented randomly relatively to the ellipsoid axes as opposed to the droplets with homeotropic and tangential anchoring.     

红外光谱结合线阵列检测技术研究聚合物分散液晶膜分子取向

采用偏振红外光谱和变温红外光谱研究聚合物分散液晶膜中液晶分子取向随外加电场及温度的变化.利用线阵列检测技术表征了聚合物与液晶界面处的成分分布.结果表明,线阵列检测技术能够快速而直观地给出成分分布图,通过该成分分布图可以解释PDLC在温度场作用下分子取向的变化.     

Influence of non-reactive solvent on optical performance, photopolymerization kinetics and morphology of nanoporous polymer gratings

A study of nanoporous polymer gratings, with controllable nanostructured porosity, as a function of grating performance, photopolymerization kinetics and morphology is presented. Modifying the standard holographic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (H-PDLC) system, by including a non-reactive solvent, results in a layered, nanoporous morphology and produces reflective optical elements with excellent optical performance of broadband reflection. The addition of the non-reactive solvent in the pre-polymer mixture results in a morphology typified by void/polymer layer-by-layer structures if sufficient optical energy is used during the holographic writing process. The duration and intensity of optical exposure necessary to form well-aligned nanoporous structures can only be obtained in the modified system by (a) illumination under longer time of holographic interference patterning (30 min) or (b) illumination under very short time of holographic interference patterning (30 s) and followed by post-curing using homogeneous optical exposure for 60 min. Comparatively, a typical H-PDLC is formed in less than 1 min. To further understand the differences in the formation of these two analogous materials, the temporal dynamics of the photoinitiation and polymerization (propagation) kinetics were examined. It is shown herein that the writing exposure gives a cross-linked polymer network that is denser in the bright regions. With 60% (or even 45%) acrylate conversion, almost no free monomer would be left after the writing. Continued exposure serves primarily to add cross-links. This has the tendency to collapse the network, especially the less dense portions, which in effect get glued down to the more dense parts. To the extent that the solvent increases the mobility of the polymer network, this process will be aided. Equally important, the size of the periodic nanopores can be varied from 10 to 50 nm by controlling either the LC concentration in the pre-polymer mixture or by controlling the time of the homogeneous post-cure.     

荧光色散谱对FeS(X5△)振动常数的实验确认

基于之前的激光诱导荧光激发谱工作,采用激光诱导荧光色散谱技术直接侦测中性FeS基电子态X5￠振动能级到v″=3而获得其振动常数. 所得FeS(X⁵△)振动频率值(518±5 cm^-1)和最近的光电子能谱测量值(520±30 cm^-1) [J. Phys. Chem. A 107, 2821 (2003)]符合得较好,该光电子能谱测量值是之前唯一报道的FeS电子态振动频率的实验值. 通过比较实验结果和相关文献(主要来自理论预测),确定FeS的基态是X⁵△态.     

随机取向双层椭球粒子偏振散射特性研究

基于T矩阵方法,给出了随机取向、轴对称、含核椭球粒子的散射计算方法.散射体的核和外壳均可为非球形粒子,整个粒子具有轴对称性.以含核椭球粒子为模型,计算了含有吸收性内核(黑炭,black carbon)的水凝物气溶胶的散射特性,分析了核的大小、形状对消光系数、散射系数、吸收系数、不对称因子、单次散射反照率以及Muller矩阵等的影响. 关键词： 光散射 T矩阵 Muller矩阵 椭球粒子     

Synthesis of Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) latexes using poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone)‐based copolymers as reactive stabilizers

The synthesis by oxidative polymerization of well‐defined poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nano‐objects in the presence of modified and unmodified poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone)‐based copolymers used as stabilizers in aqueous media is reported. Ammonium persulfate or a mixture of ammonium persulfate with CuCl₂ or CuBr₂ was used as oxidants. The effects of several parameters such as the molar mass and the concentration of the stabilizer as well as the nature of the oxidants on the size, morphology, and the conductivity of the PEDOT particles have been investigated. The distribution of the reactive moieties along the copolymer stabilizer backbone was shown to be crucial to get well‐defined PEDOT nano‐objects. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 3841–3855, 2010     

On queueing delays of dispersed messages

We study the message queueing delays in a node of a communication system, where a message consists of a block of consecutive packets. The message delay is defined as the time elapsing between the arrival epoch of the first packet of the message to the system until after the transmission of the last packet of that message is completed. We distinguish between two types of message generation processes. The message can be generated as abatch or it can bedispersed over time. In this paper we focus on the dispersed generation model. The main difficulty in the analysis is due to the correlation between the system states observed by different packets of the same message. This paper introduces a new technique to analyze the message delay in such systems for different arrival models and different number of sessions. For anM/M/1 system with variable size messages and for the bursty traffic model, we obtain an explicit expression for the Laplace-Stieltjes transform (LST) of the message delay. Derivations are also provided for anM/G/1 system, for multiple session systems and for fixed message sizes. We show that the correlation has a strong effect on the performance of the system, and that the commonly usedindependence assumption, i.e., the assumption that the delays of packets are independent from packet to packet, can lead to wrong conclusions.