Efeitos da adição de fulereno nas propriedades ópticas, térmicas e eletrônicas de cristais líquidos esméticos

Abstract

The study of optical, thermal and electronic properties of liquid-crystalline systems has attractedd an enormous interest of the scientific community, due to the potencial applicability of such systems in eletroc-optical devices. In this work, the effects of C60 fullerene addition on the physico-chemical properties of liquid crystals are investigated. By using different experimental techniques, it was possible do determine how the addition of a non-mesogenic and electron donor compound affects important physical parameters, such as the thermal diffusivity and the non-linear refractive index. From time-resolved Z-scan measurements, the thermo-opitical properties of the fullerene-doped and pure liquid crystal samples are investigated.Our results show that the insertion of fullerene reduces the nematics-smectic-A transition temperature, as well as affects the heat diffusion mechanisms in nematic and smectic phases. Concerning the non-linear optical properties, it is observed that the optical Freedericskz transition presents a continuous nature in the nematic phase, with the number of self-modulation rings increasing as the excitationa intensity is enhanced above the Freedericskz threshold. Further, it is observed that the addition of fullerene increases the non-linear optical reponse of the system. Using the two-beam coupling technique and photoconductivity measurements in the steady-state regime, the transport and photorefractive properties of doped sample are also analyzed.