3-D ORIENTATION AND SWITCHING STUDIES OF FLCS USING ATR FTIR SPECTROSCOPY

Three different alignments of FLC molecules at the surfaces of attenua ted total reflection (ATR) prisms are used for investigating the switc hing and the 3-D orientations of FLC molecules. ATR FTIR study for a d epth of a penetration of similar to 1.2 mu m shows that the reorientat ion of molecules within a thin layer for vibrational bands is the same as for the bulk sample. A 3-D ATR study of FLC cell shows that the ro tation of molecules around the long molecular axis is biased.