title: Nonlinear optical studies of liquid crystal alignment on a rubbed polyvinyl alcohol surface
abstract: Sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy and second-harmonic generation have been used to measure the orientational distributions of the polymer chains and adsorbed 8CB liquid crystal molecules on a rubbed polyvinyl alcohol surface. Results show that the polymer chains at the surface appear to be well aligned by rubbing, and the adsorbed liquid crystal molecules are aligned, in turn, by the surface polymer chains. Strong correlation exists between the orientational distributions of the polymer chains and the liquid crystal molecules, indicating that the surface-induced bulk alignment of a liquid crystal film by rubbed polymer surfaces is via an orientational epitaxylike mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, and Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Shen