Synthesis and Characterization of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals

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With support from both the Organic Dynamics Program, Division of Chemistry and the Solid State Chemistry and Polymers Program, Division of Materials Research, Dr. Walba will study the design, synthesis, and characterization of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC), a new class of thermodynamically stable, ordered organic materials. The targets of the synthetic effort are designed to possess useful properties for photonic devices, e.g., fast-switching, high resolution and high contrast FLC light valves and ultrafast nonlinear optical devices. Specific projects include the following: (i) synthesis of chiral fluorinated alkylbenzoates and atropisomeric FLCs and evaluation of their FLC properties; (ii) synthesis and evalua- tion of the nonlinear optical properties of new FLC films; (iii) empirical force field modelling of FLC components (i.e., computerization of the binding site model); (iv) polarization- sensitive IR spectroscopic studies of the FLC self assembly in thin films. While the powerful techniques of regio- and sterocontrolled organic synthesis and conformational analysis give considerable control over the constitution and spatial relationships between atoms in organic molecules, the directed design of new materials (i.e., molecular aggregates) with specific geometric relationships between functional arrays of atoms is an exciting frontier in chemistry. An important goal of this project takes advantage of the self-assembly that occurs in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to create in a controlled and general manner organic materials that possess thermodynamically stable polar order. With this objective in mind, a simple stereochemical model for the molecular level origins of the polar order that occurs in FLCs is developed and tested via a program of research that focusses upon the design, synthesis, and characterization of new FLC materials.