Light-induced formation of curved needle texture by circularly polarized light irradiation on a discotic liquid crystal containing a racemic chromium complex

Nobuhiro Anzai, Hiroko Kurihara, Masato Sone, Hidemitsu Furukawa, Toshiyuki Watanabe, Kazuyuki Horie, Sandeep Kumar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have found that the discotic nematic liquid crystal, hexakis(4-nonylphenylethynyl)benzene (HNEB), doped with the racemic chromium complex Cr(Ocacac) 3 , shows a novel straight-needle texture with hexagonal columnar alignments, changing to a curved-needle texture under irradiation of circularly polarized light (CPL). This novel phenomenon is specific to the mixture of HNEB and Cr(Ocacac) 3 . The formation of curved needles means that chiroselective photoinversion of racemic Cr(Ocacac) 3 by CPL irradiation induces a needle direction change in a discotic liquid crystal. The change in chirality of Cr(Ocacac) 3 in HNEB induced by CPL irradiation, and the resulting nano-segregation of its enantiomers during cooling from the isotropic to mesophase of HNEB, are considered to influence changes in the alignment of columns and/or small domains of column aggregates in the discotic liquid crystal.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)671-679
Number of pages9
JournalLiquid Crystals
Volume33
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2006
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Light-induced formation of curved needle texture by circularly polarized light irradiation on a discotic liquid crystal containing a racemic chromium complex'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this