Self-Organized Chiral Microspheres

Abstract

A variety of chiral microspheres, each one possessing distinctive configurations of the molecular director, are studied. The process to obtain the solid particles is illustrated and some of their optical features is discussed.

The optical properties of these objects depend from the emulsion preparation standards. The self-organized structures have been tailored by means of both the chiral dopant concentration and the molecular anchoring at the surface. The microspheres reveal exciting optical properties, i.e. they show specific kinds of selective reflection that can be sorted as radial, conical and cylindrical. The features of these micro-photonic devices are confirmed through experiments of polarized optical manipulation and laser emission.

These complex structures constitute very peculiar micro-systems, inspiring attractive technological applications.

Keywords:

• Cholesteric liquid crystals
• chirality
• optical manipulation