Applied Nanophotonics, Liquid Crystals and Biomedical Optics

Lead Sulphide (PbS) sculptured thin film (STF) is prepared using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique by physical vapour deposition (PVD) process. The morphology of the GLAD films clearly shows that anisotropic structure is obtained and composed of micro-sheets having sharp top edges. Due to the orientational order of the GLAD PbS STF an attempt has been made to check its effect on the alignment of liquid crystals as one might expect strong effect to occur. The optical microscope images under crossed polarizer reveals that good alignment is observed. The transmission, birefringence and response time measurements have also been investigated.