Photoinduced Alignment of Polymer Liquid Crystals Containing Azobenzene Moieties in the Side Chain. 6. Biaxiality and Three-Dimensional Reorientation

A liquid-crystalline polymer of 6-[4-(4-ethylphenyl)diazenylphenyloxy]hexyl methacrylate and copolymer of the azobenzene monomer with 4‘-[6-(methacryloyloxy)hexyloxy]-4-cyanobiphenyl were cast as thin films. When the polymer films with cis-azobenzenes were subjected to irradiation with linearly polarized light at 436 nm, biaxiality of the azobenzene moieties was induced during the in-plane alignment process; when they were exposed to …