V-shaped switching in ferroelectric liquid crystals

Joseph E. Maclennan; Per Rudquist; Renfan Shao; Darren R. Link; David M. Walba; Noel A. Clark; Sven T. Lagerwall

doi:10.1117/12.365798

14 October 1999 V-shaped switching in ferroelectric liquid crystals

Joseph E. Maclennan, Per Rudquist, Renfan Shao, Darren R. Link, David M. Walba, Noel A. Clark, Sven T. Lagerwall

Proceedings Volume 3800, Liquid Crystals III; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.365798
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1999, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

We have studied the three-component liquid crystal mixture reported by Inui et al. to exhibit `thresholdless antiferroelectricity', as well as some other materials with the same V-shaped (linear) electro-optic switching behavior. We find that thresholdless behavior is obtained in the absence of antiferroelectricity. The characteristic response of these materials is due to the field-induced switching of a twisted smectic C* structure stabilized by strong polar surface interactions. The twist is confined to thin surface regions by polarization charge effects leaving the bulk of the cell uniform, which gives almost complete extinction at zero field. Model calculations of the electro-optic response are in good agreement with the experimental data. In sufficiently thin cells, such thresholdless switching can in fact be followed down to much lower temperatures, where the bulk would be antiferroelectric but the cell is maintained in the ferroelectric state by hysteresis.

Citation Download Citation

Joseph E. Maclennan, Per Rudquist, Renfan Shao, Darren R. Link, David M. Walba, Noel A. Clark, and Sven T. Lagerwall "V-shaped switching in ferroelectric liquid crystals", Proc. SPIE 3800, Liquid Crystals III, (14 October 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.365798

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