A method for quantitatively analyzing the angle of direction for arbitral c-axis alignment with retardation measurements

• There was no report to analyze c-axis alignment directly.
• A new analysis approach is demonstrated with a direction of the c-axis alignment.
• We could visualize the three-dimensional direction of optical axes in a thin film.

c-axis alignment in a polymer or crystal structure has drawn attention in numerous scientific and technological applications, including crystals, thin film growth, electro-optic devices, and phase difference optics. We here demonstrate a new approach based on retardation measurement that can obtain the direction of the c-axis alignment. This is employed to visualize the three-dimensional direction of continuous crystals as a thin optical film utilizing a liquid crystal panel, using retardation analysis equipment with high resolution measurement capability. The direction of the c-axis alignment is shown so as to allow a detailed characterization of the direction perpendicular to the plane. In this analysis, the direction of the c-axis alignment is identified, and differences between molecules at inequivalent sites are quantified. The results suggest that the excellent lubrication properties of the c-axis alignment may be due to a significant localization in lateral directions.