Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T06:21:30.094Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Laser-Induced Pretransitional Ordering And Nonlinear Optical Properties Of Rigid-Rod Polymer Suspensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2011

Boris E. Vugmeister
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Lehigh University, 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Michelle S. Malcuit
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Lehigh University, 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, PA 18015
John C. Kralik
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Lehigh University, 16 Memorial Drive East, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Colleen Stevens
Affiliation:
Physics Department, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057
Get access

Abstract

We investigate the pretransitional behavior in laser-induced alignment of rigid rod-like polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) suspensions. Using a laser-induced birefringence experiment, we measure both the orientational order parameter and the orientational relaxation time. We find that both increase as the volume fraction of colloidal particles approaches the critical value for the isotropic-nematic phase transition. Experimental results are compared with theory which takes into account the possibility of a first-order phase transition induced by a laser electric field.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] DeSpirito, M., Pizzoferrato, R., Zammit, U., Marinelli, M., Scudieri, F., Martellucci, S. and Romagnoli, M., Opt. Lett. 14 (4), 239 (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2] Pizzoferrato, R., DeSpirito, M., Zammit, U., Marinelli, M., Scudieri, F. and Martelluci, S., Phys. Rev. A 41 (5), 2882 (1990)Google Scholar
[3] Rogovin, D., Scholl, J., Pizzoferrato, R., DeSpirito, M., Zammit, U. and Marinelli, M., Phys. Rev. A 44 (11), 7580 (1991)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4] Wang, Chaohua, Vugmeister, B.E. and Daniel Ou-Yang, H., Phys. Rev. E 48 (6), December 1993 Google Scholar
[5] See, H., Doi, M and Larson, R., J. Chem. Phys. 92, 792 (1990)Google Scholar
[6] Kindly supplied by Ausimont USA, Inc., Morristown, NJGoogle Scholar
[7] Kindly supplied by ICI AMericas, Inc., Exton, PAGoogle Scholar
[8] Piazza, R., Stavans, J., Bellini, T. and Degiorgio, V., Opt. Comm. 73 (4), 263 (1989)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9] O'Konski, Chester T. and Krause, Sonja, in Molecular Electro-Optics: Part 1, edited by O'Konski, Chester T. (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1976), pp. 63120.Google Scholar