Photoinduced bending upon pulsed irradiation in azobenzene-containing crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymers

  • Aki Shimamura
  • , Arri Priimagi
  • , Jun Ichi Mamiya
  • , Motoi Kinoshita
  • , Tomiki Ikeda
  • , Atsushi Shishido*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    11 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We have investigated the photoresponsive behavior of homogeneously aligned low-azobenzene-concentration crosslinked liquid-crystalline polymers. We compared the thermal contraction and photocontraction of the films, and show that upon UV irradiation, they bend efficiently towards the actinic light source. The photoinduced bending is studied both under continuous-wave irradiation and irradiation with nanosecond pulses. Pulsed irradiation revealed that the photomechanical response can take place within sub-millisecond time scale, and that even a single laser pulse can cause the sample to bend.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)405-413
    Number of pages9
    JournalJournal of Nonlinear Optical Physics and Materials
    Volume20
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2011
    Publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Keywords

    • Azobenzene
    • Liquid crystal
    • Photocontraction
    • Photomobile materials
    • Pulsed irradiation

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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