Single-particle fluorescence imaging is used to monitor dynamic processes that occur during patterned photopolymerization of liquid-crystalline monomers. Spatial gradient of chemical potential created at the border of bright and dark regions by structured illumination leads to mutual diffusion of polymers and monomers. Fluorescence of single quantum dots doped into the monomers visualizes highly directional mass flow from the illuminated region where the photopolymerization proceeds toward a masked unpolymerized region. The flow-induced orientation of the polymers is subsequently fixed by completion of the polymerization reaction, resulting in a mesoscopic aligned area of the polymer film.
- Keisuke Ueda
- Miho Aizawa
- Martin Vacha
