THE INFLUENCE OF SURFACE-STRUCTURE ON THE DISCOTIC LIQUID-CRYSTALLINEALIGNMENT - AN INFRARED-SPECTROSCOPY STUDY

The type of alignment achieved with discotic liquid crystals is import ant for a number of applications. It is found to depend decisively on the structure of the substrate. Infrared dichroism experiments are use d to study the alignment of truxene and triphenylene cores (see Fig.) on amorphous silicon and polycrystalline ZnSe substrates, revealing co nsiderable differences and hinting at the opportunity to tune the alig nment of the materials.