Liquid crystal organization of carbon nanotubes

CHED 282

Georgi Y. Georgiev, Robert Doyle, Aditya Ahlawat, Christopher Rocheleau, Brian Mulkern, Jennifer Mongeau, and Alex Ogilvie. Department of Natural Science, Assumption College, 500 Salisbury Street, Testa Center, Room 153, Worcester, MA 01609
Carbon nanotubes can be manipulated and oriented directly if combined with organic liquid crystals to which electric field can be applied. Currently there are no nano-assemblers, which makes the liquid crystal state of the nanotubes one of the few ways of controlling them. We show the design of a fast and efficient polarized light ellipsometric system (a new modification of previous optical systems) that can provide measurements in two dimensions of the azimuthal and altitudinal angle of the carbon nanotubes as a function of the applied field. Our aim is to provide fundamental information about the formation of optically anisotropic structures in liquid crystals and the orientation of carbon nanotubes in electric field.