Inverse Helical Nanofilament Networks Serving as a Chiral Nanotemplate.

Herein, an epoch-making method based on bottom-up templating is proposed for the fabrication of a chiral nanoporous film that provides a chiral environment in which to confine nematic liquid crystals. A helical nanofilamental network of bent-core molecules was utilized as a three-dimensional mold, and thus the fabricated chiral nanoporous film has an inverse nanohelical structure. The presence of a chiral superstructure was confirmed by the observation of circular dichroism signals.

Development of a liquid crystal laser using a simple cubic liquid crystalline blue phase platform.

A liquid crystal laser using a polymer-stabilized simple cubic blue phase (BPII) platform has been scarcely reported because the polymer stabilization of a BPII is relatively difficult compared to that of a body-centered-cubic BP (BPI). In this study, we succeeded in fabricating a dye-doped polymer-stabilized BPII laser with wide operating-temperature ranges over 15 °C including room temperature. A narrow and sharp single laser peak with a full width at half maximum of approximately 2 nm was derived from the photonic band edge effect of the BPII-distributed feedback optical resonator.

Micro-Segregated Liquid Crystal Haze Films for Photovoltaic Applications: A Novel Strategy to Fabricate Haze Films Employing Liquid Crystal Technology.

Herein, a novel strategy to fabricate haze films employing liquid crystal (LC) technology for photovoltaic (PV) applications is reported. We fabricated a high optical haze film composed of low-molecular LCs and polymer and applied the film to improve the energy conversion efficiency of PV module. The technique utilized to fabricate our haze film is based on spontaneous polymerization-induced phase separation between LCs and polymers.