AI Article Synopsis

  • The study investigates the structural and optical characteristics of 20 nm gold nanoparticles in two types of liquid crystals: one that is aligned (planar oriented) and one that is not (planar degenerate).
  • The aligned liquid crystal allows the gold nanoparticles to arrange themselves parallel to the liquid crystal’s axis, while in the unaligned liquid crystal, the nanoparticles are randomly dispersed.
  • Results indicate that the aligned nanoparticles exhibit greater linear and nonlinear optical absorption, which is linked to enhanced plasmon coupling, showcasing the potential for using liquid crystals to improve nanoparticle assembly for advanced optical technologies.

Article Abstract

We report structural and nonlinear optical properties of 20 nm gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) that are dispersed in planar degenerate (non-oriented) and planar oriented nematic liquid crystals (LCs) (4'-Pentyl-4-biphenylcarbonitrile-5CB). Taking advantage of elastic forces in the planar oriented nematic LC, we aligned AuNPs parallel to the 5CB director axis. In the case of planar degenerate, 5CB is not aligned and has no preferred orientation, forcing the AuNPs to disperse randomly. Results show that the linear optical absorption coefficient for the planar oriented 5CB/AuNPs mixture is larger than the corresponding planar degenerate sample. The nonlinear absorption coefficients are greatly enhanced in planar oriented samples at relatively high concentrations which can be attributed to plasmon coupling between the aligned AuNPs. This study demonstrates the utility of LCs for developing the assembly of NPs with enhanced optical properties which may offer important insight and technological advancement for novel applications, including photonic nanomaterials and optoelectronic devices.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/acdc2bDOI Listing

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