Functional Polymers and Guest-Host Polymer Blends for Optical and Electronic Applications: A Molecular Engineering Approach

The underlying premise of the research is that organic polymer films 1-100 micrometers in thickness composed of guest-host polymer materials or functional polymer materials exhibit useful optical, electro-optical or dielectricelectrical properties. Such films show promise as media for optical data-storage and processing and non-linear optics NLO. However practical device materials require the properties to be optimized and their function e.g. NLO activity should be retained in time. Improved performance of organic films may be achieved through molecular design and molecular engineering and an understanding of the fundamental relationships between the macroscopic optical, electro-optical and dielectric properties and the molecular structure and molecular dynamics in the materials. To this end a major joint effort has been made for liquid crystalline side-chain LCSC polymers.