Sulfur improves birefringence for developing liquid crystalline molecules

A team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Yuki Arakawa, Toyohashi University of Technology, has successfully liquid crystallized π-conjugated rod-like molecules with alkylthio groups containing sulfur, and developed high birefringence molecules that exhibit nematic liquid crystal with high fluidity in temperature ranges including room temperature. This molecular design is expected to offer a new liquid crystal material that contributes to the high quality image resolution of liquid crystal displays.