Thermally bandwidth-controllable reflective polarizers from (polymer network/liquid crystal/chiral dopant) composites

A (polymer network/nematic liquid crystal/chiral dopant) composite exhibiting a chiral nematic (N*) phase at room temperature has been developed. Because the helical twisting power of the chiral dopant increases with increasing temperature and the polymer network affects the molecular rearrangement of the liquid crystal, the bandwidth of the selective reflection spectrum of the N* phase becomes wider and narrower reversibly with increasing and decreasing temperature, respectively.