Deposition of oriented polymer films for liquid crystal alignment by pulsed laser ablation

Abstract

Well oriented polyethylene (PE) films were prepared on glasses coated with Indium Tin oxide (ITO) and on Si(100) substrates by pulsed laser ablation. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Nematic liquid crystal 4'-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) is used to display the orientation features of the films. Based on the experiments, a picture is presented about the formation of the polymer films. It is expected that the as-deposited highly oriented polymer films will find various applications in integrated optics and liquid crystal displays.