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Novel Photoalignment Method Based on Low-Molecular-Weight Azobenzene Dyes and Its Application for High-Dichroic-Ratio
Su Pan1, Jacob Y Ho1, Vladimir G Chigrinov1
1State Key Lab on Advanced Displays and Optoelectronics, Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering , Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay , Kowloon , Hong Kong , China.
Abstract:
Photoalignment is a simple technique for the manipulation of molecular orientations, which has been widely used in liquid crystal displays. Here, we propose a novel photoalignment method, in which an azobenzene dye thin film is deposited by thermal evaporation and in situ exposed to linearly polarized light simultaneously. We obtain polarizers with a dichroic ratio of up to 62, which is the highest value ever realized by a photoalignment method. Moreover, the polarizing thin film has a thickness of just 200 nm, compatible with flexible substrates, making it perfect for use as a dichroic polarizer in ultrathin and flexible displays.
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