STTR Phase I: Design, Fabrication and Characterization of Ferroelectric Nanoparticle Doped Liquid Crystal/Polymer Composites

这个小型企业技术转让第一阶段项目将解决对低驱动电压的关键需求，自适应材料在亚毫秒的时间范围内提供大相位延迟（紫外线，可见光和红外波长）。两项技术创新任务将并行进行，然后合并，从而产生一类新的光学材料-铁电纳米粒子掺杂液晶/聚合物复合材料。第一项任务将推进液晶浸入纳米结构海绵状聚合物网络的开发。该聚合物网络将用于液晶取向以及将单元间隙与液晶材料的响应时间解耦的手段。第二项任务将涉及铁电纳米粒子与液晶材料的混合。铁电体的使用将产生一个独特的令人兴奋的和很大程度上未开发的复合材料系统，表现出新颖的集体粒子-主机相互作用。这些相互作用有望带来比目前可用的任何液晶器件更低的驱动电压和更快的切换速度的好处。因此，这项高风险的工作将证明纳米技术的力量，将液晶的自然属性放大一个数量级。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是巨大的，因为开发的材料将用于各种商业和军事光子器件，包括微相位阵列，可变焦透镜和光束转向器件。复合铁电/液晶材料将对处理自适应光学技术的其他新兴产业至关重要，自适应光学技术一直是美国高科技经济的重要部分。此外，该项目的结果可能为已经成熟的行业提供革命性的机会;例如，通过使用铁电纳米颗粒降低液晶显示器的驱动电压，从而提高便携式电子设备（如手机和笔记本电脑）的电池寿命。

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will address the critical need for low driving voltage, adaptive materials providing large phase retardation (for ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths) within a sub-millisecond time frame. Two technologically innovative tasks will be pursued in parallel and then merged, resulting in the creation of a new class of optical materials - ferroelectric nanoparticles doped liquid crystal/polymer composites. The first task will advance the development of a liquid crystal being immersed into a nano-structured sponge-like polymer network. This polymer network will be used for liquid crystal alignment as well as a means to decouple the cell gap with the response time of the liquid crystal material. The second task will involve mixing of ferroelectric nanoparticles with liquid crystal materials. The use of ferroelectrics will produce a uniquely exciting and largely unexplored system of composite materials that exhibit novel collective particle-host interactions. These interactions promise to bring benefits of a lower driving voltage and faster switching speed than in any liquid crystal devices available today. As a result, this high-risk effort we will demonstrate the power of nanotechnology to amplify by an order of magnitude the natural properties of liquid crystals. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be tremendous, as the developed materials will have utility in a variety of commercial and military photonic devices including micro phase arrays, changeable focus lenses, and beam steering devices. The composite ferroelectric/liquid crystal materials will be critical to other emerging industries dealing with adaptive optical technologies, which has been an important segment of the US high-tech economy. In addition, the results of this project may provide revolutionary opportunities to already mature industries; for example, by reducing the driving voltage of liquid crystal displays via the use of ferroelectric nanoparticles and therefore allowing improved battery life for portable electronic devices, such as cell phones and laptops.