2C08 Photoresponsive Behavior of Dye-Doped Liquid Crystals Studied by Pump-Probe Method

Abstract

Recently we reported that nematic liquid crystals doped with thienylene derivatives were reoriented very efficiently without any change in the chemical structure by illuminating an Ar^+ laser. In this work, a tolan derivative was newly synthesized, and the photoinduced reorientation behavior of the dye-doped nematic liquid crystal was investigated. Photoinduced diffraction rings were observed according to the self phase modulation effect. Furthermore, a pump-probe optical measurement was conducted to determine the reorientational direction of liquid crystals. As a result, liquid crystals were reoriented parallel to the polarization direction of the pumping beam.