Captured Orientational Order in Polymer Network Assemblies 

The “marriage” between low molecular weight liquid crystals and polymers burgeoned in the 1980s with the idea of dispersing liquid crystal droplets in a rigid polymer matrix to create an electrically controllable light scattering medium. The orientation of the liquid crystal droplets, and hence the refractive index match and scattering, can be systematically controlled with an electric field. Today, dispersions of liquid crystals and polymers are found in many forms depending on the concentration of polymer, which can be as large as 70% or as small as 1%. The systems most understood are those of larger concentration where the liquid crystal is segregated out in the form of droplets randomly distributed throughout the surrounding polymer (see page 2). Dispersions of liquid crystals and polymers differ from macroscopic bulk liquid crystals because of the large surface-to-volume ratio and symmetry breaking non-planar geometry imposed by the polymer. Their composite nature profoundly affects the ordering of the liquid crystal, and their susceptibility to external fields makes them suitable for many new electro-optic applications, as well as intellectually challenging to study from the basic science perspective.