Polymer network structure and electro-optic performance of polymer stabilized cholesteric textures I. the influence of curing temperature

The effect of curing temperature on the electro-optic behaviour and network morphology of reverse mode polymer stabilized cholesteric textures (PSCTs) has been studied. Scanning electron micrographs indicate that increasing the curing temperature generally results in a larger average void size within a polymer network, while the morphology of the individual strands (which varies significantly for different monomers) remains largely unchanged. PSCTs with sufficiently large network voids exhibit a two-stage switching behaviour consistent with a model in which the cholesteric liquid crystal is divided between two distinct environments - one in which the liquid crystal is strongly dominated by the polymer network, the other in which a bulk-like behaviour, comparable to the unstabilized cholesteric material, is observed.