Abstract
Liquids confined in nanometer-sized gap width have characteristic viscoelastic properties. In our previous study, we have developed highly-sensitive shear force measuring method, which we called the "fiber wobbling method (FWM)", and revealed that liquid polymers exhibit enhanced viscoelasticity when they are sheared. Although mechanisms to explain these phenomena must involve molecular orientation confined in the gap, details are not clarified. In this study, we succeeded in simultaneously measuring viscoelasticity and molecular orientation of confined liquid crystal using FWM combined with birefringence measurement. Our experimental results showed that the relationship between nanometer-sized gap widths and viscoelasticity strongly depends on the molecular orientation.
