Self assembled liquid crystal polymers on photo-irradiated alignment surfaces for tailoring response properties of liquid crystal molecules

A liquid crystal polymer (LCP) self-assembled on a photoirradiated substrate can modify the viscoelastic response of liquid crystal medium on the substrate. Sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy shows that the phenyl groups of LCP are oriented epitaxially with layer thickness and an in-plane alignment order much higher than that at the photoirradiated surface can be yielded. The liquid crystal molecules confined between the LCP-coated substrates reveals a stronger correlation among the thermally excited fluctuation modes. Our finding can be used to tailor the boundary forces on alignment substrates and to optimize the device performance.