A giant polymer lattice in a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal.

ABSTRACT

Ultrasmall-angle synchrotron X-ray scattering measurements showed that a three-dimensional polymer lattice of a few 100 nm order with body-centered cubic O(8-) symmetry was formed in a polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal. We obtained clear experimental evidence that the polymer chains condensed selectively in the disclinations within the blue phase during photo-polymerization of monomers in the blue phase.