Image Analysis to Study LC Alignment on Nanopatterned Substrates

ABSTRACT

We have studied patterned substrates to identify liquid crystal alignment. The Polarized Optical Microscope (POM) was used to observe the alignment variations. Image analysis algorithms were developed to enhance the alignment information for POM images. The algorithms were developed to correlate the grayscale intensities in the image to the alignment variations. The resulting resolution of alignment variations is higher than the physical dimensions of the patterns. Using the technique, for 500 nm wide grooves, the alignment variations were observed every 166 nm. Thus, a resolution improvement factor of three is obtained.

Keywords:

• LC alignment
• nanopatterned surfaces

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Christopher Li for the POM, Dr. Jonathan Spanier for AFM Lithography, Dr. N. John DiNardo for AFM, and Dr. Yury Gogotsi for the NanoIndenter.