INPLANE ORIENTATION OF MOLECULES IN LANGMUIR AND LANGMUIR-BLODGETT-FILMS BY SHEARING

Shearing of a Langmuir film by a rotating disk can induce orientation of surfactant molecules at the gas-water interface. Monolayers with su ch local anisotropy may be transferred onto a solid substrate by Langm uir-Blodgett techniques and give multilayer films which exhibit a pref erred molecular orientation within the plane of the multilayers. This orientation process depends mainly on rotation speed and the distance between substrate and disk. This approach allows one, for the first ti me, to control in-plane ordering of Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett fil ms.