Electrical addressing of polymer stabilized hyper-twisted chiral nematic liquid crystals with interdigitated electrodes: Experiment and model

Journal article

Electro-optic switching in short-pitch polymer stabilized chiral nematic liquid crystals was studied and the relative contributions of flexoelectric and dielectric coupling were investigated: polymer stabilization was found to effectively suppress unwanted textural transitions of the chiral nematic liquid crystal and thereby enhance the electro-optical performance (high optical contrast for visible light, a near ideal optical hysteresis, fast electro-optic response). Test cells were studied that possessed interdigitated electrodes to electrically address the liquid crystal. Based on simulations, a well-fitted phenomenological description of the electro-optic response was derived considering both flexoelectro-optic and Kerr-effect based electro-optic response. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Authors: Lorenz, A; Gardiner, D; Morris, S; Castles, F; Qasim, M

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Journal: Applied Physics Letters
• Volume: 104
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 071102-071102
• Publication date: 2014-02-17
• Acceptance date: 2014-01-30
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4865558
• EISSN: 1077-3118
• ISSN: 0003-6951
• Keywords: Liquid crystals; Chiral symmetries; Birefringence; Electrooptical effects; Electrodes