Langmuir Blodgett films of arachidic acid and a nematic liquid crystal: Characterization and use in homeotropic alignment

We study the behavior of a mixed Langmuir monolayer consisting of a fatty acid and a nematic liquid crystal. We demonstrate that the mixed monolayer successfully transfers as a Langmuir–Blodgett film and characterize the transferred film using UV spectroscopy. An important application of Langmuir–Blodgett films is in the alignment of liquid crystals for electro-optical applications, such as displays. We show that including the liquid crystal in the Langmuir–Blodgett film produces homeotropic alignment for a system which fails to align by other standard techniques.