Alignment of molecular materials in high magnetic fields

The potential of using high magnetic fields to align functional molecular materials is discussed, illustrated by magnetic orientation of two different types of materials. Alignment of side chain polymer liquid crystals leads to macroscopically ordered, transparant and strongly birefringent material. The alignment process strongly depends on the chemical structure of the material and can be used to determine the strength of the coupling between the polymer backbone and the liquid-crystalline units. Alignment of cyanine dye J-aggregates results in material exhibiting strongly polarized optical properties, from which the internal molecular arrangement of the aggregates can be inferred. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.