Photoinduced chirality in a photochromic stilbene-molecule-doped polymeric liquid crystal film

Photoinduced chirality has been demonstrated in thin films of a main-chain polymeric liquid crystal (PLC) system doped with photochromic stilbene molecules by irradiation with circularly polarized light (CPL). CPL-induced chirality was observed in the intrinsically achiral films which were doped with low-molecular-weight stilbene molecules. It was found that the level of photoinduced chirality of the stilbene-molecule-doped system is comparable to that of the azobenzene-molecule-doped system. Moreover, reversible photo-rewriting property for the stilbene-doped system was also demonstrated by alternating irradiation with right- and left-CPL.