This two-year award provides support for US-France cooperative research aimed at understanding how to control super and molecular level structures of liquid crystalline polymers and liquid crystalline block copolymer materials. The project involves the research groups of Edwin L. Thomas at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jean- Claude Wittman and Bernard Lotz at the Institut Charles Sadron in Strasbourg, France. The investigators will characterize and process these materials. Thin films of polymer will be processed to undergo microphase separation and liquid crystal formation on highly oriented polytetrafluoroethylene substrates and under an applied electric or magnetic field. The US research group brings to this collaboration expertise in applied advanced electron microscopic techniques. This is complemented by French expertise in crystal physics and orientational processing. The project will advance understanding of substrate and field processing of liquid crystalline polymeric materials and their optical applications.
