New optical functional materials based on alkaline metals salts of 5-(2-{4-[2-(3-carboxy-4- hydroxyphenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}diazenyl)-2-hydroxybenzenecarboxylic acid

New functional materials – layers of nanosized thickness based on alkaline salts of azodyes are developed. The layers form hydrophilic photoinduced anisotropic surfaces for epitaxial growth and photoalignment of liquid crystals – the mesogenic systems. It is shown that sodium and potassium salts of 5-(2-{4-[2-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}diazenyl)-2-hydroxybenzenecarboxylic acid demonstrate marked difference in reorientation dynamics of LC photoalignment direction. Based on the new materials the optically addressable liquid crystal indicator is realized, and the possibility of creation of polarization optical logic gate is demonstrated.