Polymer network structure and electro-optic performance of polymer stabilized cholesteric textures II. The effect of UV curing conditions

The effect of UV curing intensity and curing time 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 intensity generally results in a more open polymer network characterized by a larger average void size, while the morphology of the individual strands remains largely unchanged. In addition, as the polymerization process proceeds, voids within the network are observed to decrease in size. 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.