• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2011

The aqueous solution of Sunset Yellow-FCF (SY-FCF) began to show schlieren texture at room temperature when its concentration reaches 25 wt%. A further increase of the concentration of SY-FCF to 28 wt% resulted in a perfect nematic liquid crystal phase. However, more than 30 wt% of SY-FCF in aqueous solution was required to make an optically anisotropic film simply by shear coating. In our study, concentration of SY-FCF solution, coating speed, drying temperature, and relative humidity were considered as coating parameters affecting the preparation of optically anisotropic thin films. From analysis of variance analysis (ANOVA), the solution concentration was revealed as a main factor affecting the film thickness. The drying temperature and solution concentration were main factors affecting the transmittance of parallel direction ($T_o$). Especially, SY-FCF aqueous solution with high concentration induced a better alignment of LC columns and produced highly oriented anisotropic films. In this study, optically anisotropic films prepared by 33 wt% of SY-FCF in aqueous solution showed 89.7~98.7% of degree of polarization.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.288-293
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• 2009

Polarization characteristics of a composite film composed of two optically anisotropic films are analyzed. The procedure to determine the effective optics axis and the equivalent retardation of the composite film is suggested in conjuction with the related ellipsometric expressions. The explicit expressions of the effective optic axis and the equivalent retardation of a non-uniform anisotropic film are derived when all optic axes are parallel. Those expressions of the composite film where optic axes of two constituting anisotropic films are not parallel are also derived. Dependence of those expressions on the polarization state of the incident light or the azimuth angle of the linearly polarized light and their limit when applied to practical use are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.20-21
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• 2009