Measurement of the Domain Growth Kinetics in Multidomain Nematic Liquid Crystal Polymers by Means of the Worm Like Path Model for Multiple Scattering

Abstract

The rate of domain growth in nematic side chain polymer samples is measured using the worm like path model for multiple scattering of light. The worm like path model which describes multiple scattaering in terms of the optical persistence length is found to apply both to multiple scattering in liquid crystal polymer films as well as to model polystyrene despersions. The required value of the optical persistence length can be calculated from the single scattering process so that there are no adjustable parameters in this model. The rate of domain growth in liquid crystal polymer samples is found to obey a scaling law where the growth exponent is about 0.85, contrary to the expected value of ½. In addition, an unexpected effect of the layer thickness on the rate of growth is observed, even for layer thickness much larger than the domain size.