Application of scanning force microscopy and near-field optical microscopy to liquid crystalline systems: observing free surfaces, smectic structural forces, and molecular orientation

A combined scanning shear-force and near-field optical microscope was used to detect the liquid-vapor interface and the smectic layer structure through the thickness of a film of the alkyl cyranobiphenyl liquid crystal 8CB on a HOPG substrate. With noncontact imaging of a thin precursor layer, it was possible to follow the movement of a monolayer of the 8CB. Noncontact imaging combined with polarization SNOM was used to study the birefringent nature of a thin film of a liquid crystal polymer.