Cooper, E.J. orcid.org/0009-0007-2440-2492, Reynolds, M. orcid.org/0000-0003-3056-0837, Raistrick, T. orcid.org/0000-0002-6227-6550 et al. (5 more authors) (2024) Controlling the Optical Properties of Transparent Auxetic Liquid Crystal Elastomers. Macromolecules, 57 (5). pp. 2030-2038. ISSN 0024-9297
Abstract
Determining the tunability of the optical coefficients, order parameter, and transition temperatures in optically transparent auxetic liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) is vital for applications, including impact-resistant glass laminates. Here, we report measurements of the refractive indices, order parameters, and transition temperatures in a family of acrylate-based LCEs in which the mesogenic content varies from ∼50 to ∼85%. Modifications in the precursor mixture allow the order parameter, ⟨P2⟩, of the LCE to be adjusted from 0.46 to 0.73. The extraordinary refractive index changes most significantly with composition, from ∼1.66 to ∼1.69, in moving from a low to high mesogenic content. We demonstrate that all LCE refractive indices decrease with increasing temperature, with temperature coefficients of ∼10–4 K–1, comparable to optical plastics. In these LCEs, the average refractive index and the refractive index anisotropy are tunable via both chemical composition and order parameter control; we report design rules for both.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/V054724/1 Leverhulme Trust Not Known UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Not Known EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/R511717/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 05 Feb 2024 11:17 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jan 2025 09:33 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c02226 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:208616 |