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Published August 12, 1994 | public
Journal Article

Controlling Molecular Order in "Hairy-Rod" Langmuir-Blodgett Films: A Polarization-Modulation Microscopy Study

Abstract

The interplay of molecular weight, layer thickness, and thermal annealing in controlling molecular order in ultrathin Langmuir-Blodgett films is characterized with the use of polarization-modulation laser-scanning microscopy. The degree and direction of molecular alignment can be imaged rapidly and sensitively through the magnitude and orientation of linear dichroism in Langmuir-Blodgett films of rodlike poly(phthalocyaninatosiloxane) (PcPS). Images are presented for films as thin as two molecular layers (∼44 angstroms). Molecular alignment along the transfer direction is much stronger for films of PcPS with ∼25 repeat units (∼10 nanometers long) than for those with ∼50 repeat units (∼20 nanometers long). Enhancement of alignment by thermal annealing is also much greater for PcPS-25 than PcPS-50. Intimate interaction with the substrate suppresses improvement in alignment by annealing, evident by an anomalously small increase in anisotropic absorption of the first two layers.

Additional Information

© 1994 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 27 April 1994; accepted 27 June 1994. Supported by Raychem and the Caltech Consortium in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering: E. I. duPont de Nemours, Eastman Kodak, and 3M.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023