Electro‐optical Materials: Switching of Electrically Responsive,Light‐Sensitive Colloidal Suspensions of Anisotropic Pigment Particles (Adv. Funct. Mater. 3/2011) |
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| Authors: | Alexey Eremin Ralf Stannarius Susanne Klein Jana Heuer Robert M Richardson |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Otto‐von‐Guericke‐Universit?t Magdeburg, FNW/IEP/ANP, Postfach 4120, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany;2. Hewlett‐Packard Labs, Long Down Avenue, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8QZ, UK;3. H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, BS8 1TL, UK |
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| Abstract: | An unusual electro‐optical behavior of colloidal suspensions of dichroic, elongated (rod‐shaped) pigment particles is reported. These suspensions exhibit nematic liquid crystal order at low volume fraction of the suspended particles (<15 wt%) and show a strong electric and optical response to an external electric field. Additionally, the characteristics of the optical response can be reversibly manipulated by illuminating the sample with light in its absorption band. The suspensions show a number of interesting phenomena like homeotropic‐planar orientational transitions and light‐induced pattern formation. |
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| Keywords: | electro‐optical materials colloidal suspensions liquid crystals birefringent particles |
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