Informatics analysis of structural change in crosslinked azobenzene liquid crystal polymer from the microscopic image sequence

Abstract

Crosslinked azobenzene liquid crystalline polymers in a thin film form undergoes surface contraction due to trans-sis isomerization induced by irradiating UV light. This feature has been applied for the applications of plastic motors and robot arms. However, the microscopic structural changes during the motion remain elusive. In this study, we observed the transformation process of the liquid crystal polymer film induced by UV light irradiation using time-resolved phase/polarization microscopy. We have also applied the cos-s map MCR method to the sequential image data to reveal the microscopic changes in the molecular and domain structural orientation.