Light-Responsive Microstructures in Droplets of the Twist–Bend Nematic Phase

We report on the structure and optical manipulation of the director configurations in emulsions of liquid-crystalline droplets of a compound exhibiting the nematic (N) and the twist-bend nematic (NTB) phases. We demonstrate a decrease in the ratio of the bent elastic constant K33 to the splay constant K11 by nearly 2 orders of magnitude with decreasing temperature in the N phase. The director structures in liquid-crystal droplets doped with a photoswitchable surfactant without and under ultraviolet (UV) light are discussed in light of the strong elastic anisotropy of the investigated compound. We also compare our findings with the results obtained in doped nematic droplets of a conventional 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal. The dynamics of droplets in the NTB phase by UV light irradiation are also studied using polarizing and confocal microscopies.