Physical properties of stretched polymeric substrates with periodic microrelief for optical diffraction elements and liquid‐crystal alignment

Abstract— The effect of the formation of a periodic surface microrelief while stretching the polymeric substrates with thin hard coatings under specified conditions (a processing temperature lower than the glassing temperature, an elongation magnitude up to 250%, an elongation velocity <5 mm/min) is described. The microrelief period varies in the range from 0.5 μm up to hundreds of micrometers, the height up to 1 μm. The polar and azimuthal orientation of a liquid crystal on the surface of such substrates was studied. Methods are proposed to measure low values of the optical path length in media Δ n ∼ λ and components of LC anchoring energy on microreliefed surfaces. The simulation description of the light diffraction in optical anisotropic materials is proposed on the basis of the Rokushima‐Yamakita approach for periodical media. An opportunity for the creation of various optical components on the basis of this effect was considered, namely, diffraction gratings, optical compensators, and various types of light‐scattering elements.