Control of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals by means of magnetic fields and chiral dopants

Abstract

Over the last decades, a kind of aqueous based liquid crystals (LCs) has extended the field of conventional LCs. This kind of LCs is the so-called lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs). LCLCs present different appealing properties, such as biological compatibility, which have led to a growing interest among the scientific community. One of the most typical LCLCs is the azo dye Sunset Yellow (SY). Here, we report a study of SY nematic droplets coexisting with its isotropic phase. Furthermore, we describe a control of these droplets via chiral dopants and magnetic fields. With this study we aim to provide a better understanding of SY drops and, thus, give the opportunity to make new functional materials such as polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). These materials have been discovered relatively recently and that hold promise for several optical applications such as switchable windows or image projectors.