Application of a Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope to the Study of Interfacial Liquid Crystal Orientation Transition

Abstract

A scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) has been optimized for observation of liquid crystal (LC) orientation at the LC/substrate interface. This novel system enables the LC orientation distribution image to be observed with high spatial resolution (less than 100 nm) under an applied local electric field. The present study demonstrates that the developed SNOM allows, for the first time, microscopic analysis of the LC orientation at the IPS substrate surface.