P-115: New Photoalignment Material: Azimuthal Anchoring Energy Decreases at Very High Photo-Induced Order Parameters

We developed new azo-dye photoalignment material with extremely high values of photoinduced anisotropy: order parameter S∼0.85, dichroic ratio DR∼17.5. Experiment reveals decrease of azimuthal anchoring energy for highly oriented azo-dye layers, contradicting with regular expectations. High quality patterned λ/4 retarder based on RM mesogens with ∼3 µm pattern disclination width are obtained.