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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Light-Programmed Persistent and Rewritable Anisotropy in Photoresponsive Mesogenic Microdroplets

  • Osamu Oki1,2
  • Yuyang Wang3,2
  • Anjali Devi Das1,2
  • Bart W. L. van den Bersselaar1,2
  • Peter Zijlstra3,2
  • Ghislaine Vantomme1,2
  1. 1Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry
  2. 2Eindhoven University of Technology
  3. 3Department of Applied Physics and Science Education, and Institute for Complex Molecular Systems
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Abstract

Photo-responsive liquid-crystalline systems can translate molecular photoisomerization into mesoscale reorganization, but retaining light-written anisotropy in fluid mesophases remains challenging because the programmed order readily relaxes. Here, we show that photo-responsive RM-AzoSi3 microdroplets enable polarized-light writing, rewriting, and quantitative readout of mesophase anisotropy at single-droplet resolution. Microdroplet arrays prepared by µ-contact printing on PDMS exhibit a hyperbolic hedgehog internal organization that can be reoriented by polarized irradiation into directional anisotropic states perpendicular to the incident polarization. Polarized imaging enables the monitoring of internal organization and shows that repeated irradiation progressively suppresses relaxation, yielding long-lived anisotropy while preserving rewritability. Under inert atmosphere, photopolymerization further tunes the balance between structural fixation and preservation of mesoscopic order, with strong sensitivity to irradiation power, exposure time, and pulse frequency. Together, these results establish light-programmed persistent anisotropy as an accessible design principle in fluid soft matter and position photo-responsive microdroplets as a versatile platform for directional optical programming in soft-photonic materials.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{oki2026lightprogrammed,
  title = {{Light-Programmed Persistent and Rewritable Anisotropy in Photoresponsive Mesogenic Microdroplets}},
  author = {Osamu Oki and Yuyang Wang and Anjali Devi Das and Bart W. L. van den Bersselaar and Peter Zijlstra and Ghislaine Vantomme},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010326/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010326/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Light-Programmed Persistent and Rewritable Anisotropy in Photoresponsive Mesogenic Microdroplets
AU  - Osamu Oki
AU  - Yuyang Wang
AU  - Anjali Devi Das
AU  - Bart W. L. van den Bersselaar
AU  - Peter Zijlstra
AU  - Ghislaine Vantomme
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/13
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010326/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010326/v1
AB  - Photo-responsive liquid-crystalline systems can translate molecular photoisomerization into mesoscale reorganization, but retaining light-written anisotropy in fluid mesophases remains challenging because the programmed order readily relaxes. Here, we show that photo-responsive RM-AzoSi3 microdroplets enable polarized-light writing, rewriting, and quantitative readout of mesophase anisotropy at single-droplet resolution. Microdroplet arrays prepared by µ-contact printing on PDMS exhibit a hyperbolic hedgehog internal organization that can be reoriented by polarized irradiation into directional anisotropic states perpendicular to the incident polarization. Polarized imaging enables the monitoring of internal organization and shows that repeated irradiation progressively suppresses relaxation, yielding long-lived anisotropy while preserving rewritability. Under inert atmosphere, photopolymerization further tunes the balance between structural fixation and preservation of mesoscopic order, with strong sensitivity to irradiation power, exposure time, and pulse frequency. Together, these results establish light-programmed persistent anisotropy as an accessible design principle in fluid soft matter and position photo-responsive microdroplets as a versatile platform for directional optical programming in soft-photonic materials.
ER  -