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

该小型企业技术转移第一阶段项目将满足对低驱动电压、在亚毫秒时间范围内提供大相位延迟(紫外线、可见光和红外波长)的自适应材料的迫切需求。两项技术创新任务将并行进行，然后合并，从而创造出一类新的光学材料-掺杂液晶/聚合物复合材料的铁电纳米颗粒。第一项任务将推动液晶被浸入纳米结构海绵状聚合物网络的开发。这种聚合物网络将用于液晶对准，以及一种将电池间隙与液晶材料的响应时间分离的手段。第二项任务将涉及铁电纳米颗粒与液晶材料的混合。铁电材料的使用将产生一种独特的、令人兴奋的、在很大程度上还未被探索的复合材料系统，它显示出新颖的集体粒子-宿主相互作用。这些相互作用有望带来比目前任何液晶器件更低的驱动电压和更快的开关速度。因此，这项高风险的努力，我们将展示纳米技术的力量，以数量级放大液晶的自然属性。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力将是巨大的，因为所开发的材料将用于各种商业和军用光子设备，包括微相位阵列、可变焦距透镜和光束控制设备。铁电/液晶复合材料将对处理自适应光学技术的其他新兴产业至关重要，自适应光学技术已成为美国高科技经济的重要组成部分。此外，该项目的成果可能会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来降低液晶显示器的驱动电压，从而延长便携式电子设备的电池寿命，如手机和笔记本电脑。

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.