Challenging chiral self-assembling materials for photonic applications: structures and properties (IoP-WAT-LC)

The overall objective of this proposal for scientific collaboration between Czech and Polish teams is to study the unique ability of the self-organisation of liquid crystalline systems and to contribute to better understanding of the molecular architecture – nano-organization relation. Understanding of this relation is of fundamental interest but also starting point for future applications. The main particular aims of this project are: (I) Synthesis and study of new low molar mass materials and monomers of various structures including those possessing photosensitive moieties (azoxy-group). These materials are expected to exhibit the polar mesophases with ferroelectric and antiferroelectric order within a broad temperature range; (II) To study the structures and properties of the frustrated smectic phases i.e. the cubic SmQ* phase by X-ray scattering, dielectric spectroscopy, electro-optics and other techniques; (III) To establish the effect of the enantiomeric excess on formation of polar mesophases i.e. the mesophases with ferroelectric and antiferroelectric polar order.