Session F2: Symposium on Soft Matter III

8:00 AM–9:00 AM, Saturday, October 24, 2009
Green Center Room: 215

Chair: Bret Flanders, Kansas State University

Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.4CF.F2.4

Abstract: F2.00004 : Molecular interactions of a photo-active monolayer

8:36 AM–8:48 AM

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Authors:

  Yu An Lo
    (Colorado School of Mines)

  Thomas Furtak
    (Colorado School of Mines)

  Joseph Dahdah

Photo-active materials are widely applied in optical data storage,wave guides,refractive index manipulation, and photo-alignment of liquid crystals. Many of these materials involve an azobenzene unit, which undergoes trans-cis photoisomerization. In this work, a methyl red derivative (dMR) monolayer was studied to understand its high light sensitivity and power-law kinetics when responding to polarized light. We simulated a variety of monolayer molecular fields by dilute dMR solutions in different organic solvents. We studied the spectral and time-dependent characteristics of the absorbance in these environments and in monolayer films. The cis-trans thermal relaxation demonstrates an unexpectedly complex dependence on molecular environments that may be related to the monolayer behavior.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.4CF.F2.4