Freestanding films of polyaniline (PANI) base were fabricated from N,N
'-dimethyl propylene urea (DMPU) solution by both casting and spin coa
ting procedures with subsequent drawing. A new near infrared wave guid
e coupling technique was used to determine the three dimensional refra
ctive indices and symmetry axis direction of the anisotropic films. Qu
antitative infrared dichroism measurements were made on the same films
. A direct correlation was predicted and observed between the measured
birefringence and the infrared dichroic function of the PANI absorpti
on bands studied. The three dimensional molecular anisotropy developed
by the different fabrication and deformation procedures were compared
and found to differ.