The mountain defect. A new kind of planar defect in surface stabilized smectic C liquid crystals

A new kind of planar chevron defect, which we call the 'mountain defect' due to its mountain-shaped appearance under the microscope, is observed in chevron surface stabilized smectic C liquid crystal cells for both chiral (ferroelectric) and achiral materials. Polarized optical microscopy investigations reveal that this kind of defect, which can either appear spontaneously and grow slowly over days, weeks and months or can be induced by applying an electric field or mechanical distortion, mediates change in the chevron interface position, separating chevron domains of differing chevron interface position. The full three dimensional layer structure of this defect and its relation with other commonly seen line defects in such cells, like zig-zag walls and field lines, will be presented. The formation of this kind of defect indicates that chevron structure is not necessarily a stable structure in these cells.     

Dynamic and microscopic X-ray characterization of a compound chevron layer in electroclinic liquid crystals

The local layer structure of surface stabilized electroclinic liquid crystals has been analysed by time-resolved synchrotron X-ray microdiffraction. At a low applied electric field, the initial bookshelf structure starts to respond above a threshold voltage. With a low to medium applied field of triangular form, the layer structure transforms reversibly between the bookshelf (low field) and the compound chevron (high field), in which the vertical and horizontal chevrons alternate along the layer. When the horizontal chevron component appears, a stripe texture can be seen in an optical micrograph. With increasing field, the horizontal chevron becomes a dominant structure while the vertical chevron still remains. The layer spacing changes in correlation with the chevron angle during the field application. At high field, surface molecules partly rearrange, resulting in alignment deterioration at the interface. The layer response time for an a.c. square wave field is of the order of a few µs to ten µs, which is close to the optical response. The appearance of the compound chevron is discussed in conjunction with the anchoring effect.     

Stressed states in domain switching of ferroelectric liquid crystal devices

In this paper we show that the director profile of a low pre-tilt surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal passes through quasi-static stressed states during domain switching under direct drive conditions. Using polarized stroboscopic microscopy, we have observed two quasi-static transmission levels during a domain switching transition from dark to light. This is a result of the directors reorienting into stressed profiles both before and after the chevron interface has switched. By modelling the interaction between the elastic forces and the torque from the applied field, we have determined these voltage dependent director profiles and, by calculating their corresponding transmissivities, have shown very good agreement with the experimentally observed values.     

Field-induced reorientation dynamics of a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture

Time-resolved measurements of electro-optical response and Fourier-transform infrared absorption have been employed to study the submolecular motion of a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) mixture during a field-induced reorientation process. All observed submolecular groups were found to rotate in unison about the layer normal in a steady d.c. field. In a transient situation, the FLC director can respond rapidly to a pulsed driving field. However, the orientation distribution was found to spread at first and then slowly converge to the new direction of the FLC director. When the field is switched off, all the core groups relax to a steady-state direction with varying relaxation times. The results reveal that submolecular fragments of different molecular species in the FLC mixture move correlatively in a steady d.c. field and during a field-induced reorientation process.     

Dynamic and microscopic X‐ray characterization of a compound chevron layer in electroclinic liquid crystals

The local layer structure of surface stabilized electroclinic liquid crystals has been analysed by time‐resolved synchrotron X‐ray microdiffraction. At a low applied electric field, the initial bookshelf structure starts to respond above a threshold voltage. With a low to medium applied field of triangular form, the layer structure transforms reversibly between the bookshelf (low field) and the compound chevron (high field), in which the vertical and horizontal chevrons alternate along the layer. When the horizontal chevron component appears, a stripe texture can be seen in an optical micrograph. With increasing field, the horizontal chevron becomes a dominant structure while the vertical chevron still remains. The layer spacing changes in correlation with the chevron angle during the field application. At high field, surface molecules partly rearrange, resulting in alignment deterioration at the interface. The layer response time for an a.c. square wave field is of the order of a few µs to ten µs, which is close to the optical response. The appearance of the compound chevron is discussed in conjunction with the anchoring effect.     

Director reorientation dynamics in chevron ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

We present sample numerical solutions of the equation of motion that governs the dynamics of molecular orientation in ferroelectric liquid crystal cells with chevron layer structure. We show that the chevron structure significantly influences the director field, the chevron interface providing surface stabilization on a plane interior to the FLC layer. Assuming non-polar nematic-like elasticity in the vicinity of the chevron interface, we have modelled the effects of applied field on cells with purely non-polar cell boundary interactions that have uniform director orientation at zero field, and on cells in which the cell walls are strongly polar and the zero-field states are splayed. The simulations with strongly polar surfaces give bistable operation with the two states having fixed orientations at the FLC-solid surfaces, different orientation of P at the chevron interface, and P splayed in either the upper or lower portion of the cell. A monostable state can arise when the chevron interface is asymmetric, i.e. located away from the middle of the cell. Experimental results on asymmetric chevron cells qualitatively confirm the calculated switching scenario.     

Horizontal chevron configurations in ferroelectric liquid crystal cells induced by high electric fields

Application of a high electric field to a S*_c ferroelectric liquid crystal cell may cause the formation of horizontal chevron configurations with the smectic layers tilted by the amount of the chevron angle (in the case of the present investigation equal to the director tilt angle) with respect to the normal to the rubbing direction of the cell substrates. The layer structure resembles that of the well-known vertical chevron configuration, but in the plane of the substrate instead of perpendicular to it, and is similar to that recently reported for the stripe-shaped texture. Between crossed polarizers, the two domain types appear to switch in opposite directions when an a.c. electric field is applied. The temperature dependence of the observation of horizontal chevron structures was investigated and an explanation is proposed analogous to that for the stripe texture model.     

Dielectric versus optical response of chevron ferroelectric liquid crystals

Dielectric and optical methods to investigate the response of surface‐stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals (SSFLCs) of the chevron structure are examined and compared in the case of the azimuthal mode of collective relaxation processes. It is found that the variation of an effective (averaged over the chevron cell volume) dielectric permittivity tensor under the influence of a weak alternating external electric field is approximately equivalent to the transformation of this tensor as a consequence of the rotation of the laboratory frame around the axis perpendicular to the smectic plane about a small angle. Then, using an analytic solution of the equation of motion describing the azimuthal rotation of molecules, it is shown that both of the analysed approaches to calculate and measure the response of SSFLCs yield consistent results for these rotational dynamic processes. This allows the calculation of the spontaneous polarization of the unit volume of chevron slabs, provided that the pretilted azimuthal angle (in the absence of an applied electric field) within the smectic plane is known.     

Dynamics of the smectic layer reorientation of ferroelectric liquid crystals

Detailed experimental results of a systematic investigation of the dynamics of the in-plane smectic layer reorientation in SmC* ferroelectric liquid crystals on application of different types of asymmetric electric fields are reported. The reversible reorientation of smectic layers is characterized as a function of field asymmetry, electric field amplitude, frequency, cell gap and temperature. On the basis of the observed behaviour we discuss a phenomenological interpretation of the smectic layer reorientation in terms of dominant influences director switching, convection due to ionic motion and liquid crystal substrate interactions which limit the rotation to the amount of twice the tilt angle.     

Local layer structure of the steep field line defect in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

The local layer structure of one type of DC electric field induced line defect observed in CS-1014 surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal electro-optic cells has been determined using X-ray scattering and optical microscopy. The characterized defect is a high contrast defect line distinct from other field lines in that a defect mirror image is not produced when the DC field direction is reversed.     

Measurement of the rotational viscosity of ferroelectric liquid crystals based on a simple dynamical model

Rotational viscosity and spontaneous polarization are the most important properties of a ferroelectric liquid crystal with regard to its switching time in surface stabilized or a.c. field stabilized displays. Whereas there is an abundant literature about spontaneous polarization, only a few attempts have been made to determine the rotational viscosity. We set up a model for the electric response of a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell on application of an electric field. For the application of a triangular wave voltage we derive a relation between the rotational viscosity, the spontaneous polarization, the tilt angle, the maximum induced polarization current and the electric field strength. Experiments are carried out on several ferroelectric liquid crystals and the derived relation was used to determine the rotational viscosity. The relation between the rotational viscosity and the polarization on the one hand and the optical switching time on the other hand is discussed in some detail.     

The optical tensor configuration in a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal determined by using half leaky guided modes

The optic tensor configuration in a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell is investigated using optical excitation of half leaky guided modes. A thin ferroelectric liquid crystal layer is confined between a high index pyramid, with an index greater than the maximum of the liquid crystal, and a glass substrate having an index less than the minimum of the liquid crystal. Using standard attenuated total reflection experimental procedures, over a small angle range a series of sharp resonant peaks are recorded in the s-polarized reflectivity using p-polarized incident light. These peaks are extraordinarily sensitive to details of the optical tensor configuration within the cell. Fitting theoretically modelled reflectivities from multilayer Fresnel theory to the data allows determination of near surface alignment, bending of the chevron, surface tilt angle and biaxiality. To give a clear physical explanation for the great sensitivity of the technique, the electromagnetic field component distributions in the cell are also presented and analysed. The results confirm that the half leaky guided mode method has enormous potential for the study of the optic tensor configuration in liquid crystal layers.     

Visible polarized light transmission spectroscopy of the electro-optic switching behaviour of surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

We present in this paper an experimental and theoretical modelling study of the switching characteristics and electro-optic behaviour of chevron surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells with planar (low pre-tilt) and non-planar (high pre-tilt) surface conditions. The visible polarized light transmission spectra were taken of the cells with glass plates coated with films of either rubbed polymer or obliquely evaporated silicon monoxide (SiO) at various applied voltages and in various stages of switching and compared with the theoretical values calculated numerically based on our director-polarization structure model for the aforementioned cells. The results provide evidence for the origin of differences in domain shape and contrast in the switching process between planar and non-planar chevron surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells.     

Measurement of the viscosity of ferroelectric liquid crystals in free-standing films

A new implementation of the technique for the measurement of the Goldstone mode rotational viscosity in the S_c phase is presented. An electric field is applied parallel to the surface of a free-standing liquid crystal film. The optical transmission change of the film is recorded. The viscosity can be calculated from the reorientation time between optically separated positions of the director. A comparison with the viscosity values measured in thin cells is given. The values determined in cells are always higher than the results obtained from free-standing films. This indicates the great influence of the forces of interaction between the liquid crystal molecules and the surface layer in the cells.     

Detailing smectic SSFLC director profiles by half-leaky guided mode technique and genetic algorithm

The genetic algorithm (GA), written to allow automatic analysis of optical reflectivity data obtained from liquid crystal cells using the half-leaky guided mode technique, has been developed to the point where liquid crystal cells can be analysed successfully giving greater detail of optical parameters and director profile than yielded by any other technique. The technique models the liquid crystal layer as a set of discrete, independent sub-layers which can map out the variation of the director through the thickness of the cell. Given sufficient high quality data, it is now possible automatically and accurately to fit the parameters of a complete liquid crystal cell. Using this highly adapted GA, half-leaky guided mode optical reflectivity data from the nematic, smectic A and smectic C* phases of SCE13 in a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal have been fitted to reveal director profiles and optical parameters of the cell in each phase.     

Stationary states of the surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal layers in electric field

Stationary states of surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal layers in an electric field are analysed by use of the Taylor expansion method based on catastrophe theory. Two kinds of director distribution within the flat smectic layers are taken into account: the uniform and the presplayed one. The butterfly catastrophe describes the properties of the cells correctly. The results have a qualitative character. Two categories of transitions can be predicted: switching between stable states characterized by opposite uniform orientations of the polarization vectors, and deformation of the director field which relaxes after removing the field. The threshold field strengths are found and the role of the system parameters is investigated.     

Pyroelectric investigations of a hydrogen bonded ferroelectric liquid crystal gel by LIMM

The laser intensity modulation method (LIMM) is employed to determine spatially resolved polarization distributions in sandwich cells containing a hydrogen‐bonded ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) gel. At no external electric fields, contributions to the distributions at the surface of the FLC layer are dominating in all the samples with different concentration of gel former. These are attributed to non‐vanishing polarization due to surface interaction. In this case, the effect of hydrogen‐bonded network on the polarization distribution is not visible. In external electric fields, additional contribution to the resulting distribution caused by the induced polarization due to unwinding the FLC helix has been observed. Furthermore, the influence of hydrogen‐bonded network on the polarization distribution is also detected when the gel former content is increased up to 5.0 wt%. Therein the shape of the measured pyrospectra is completely different to other FLC gel samples with lower gel former concentration, where their maximum distributions still locate at the surface of FLC layer which is comparable to the initial field‐free state. These result indicate that the helical structure and orientation director of FLC are able to be stabilized effectively by the gel network even under strong external electric field. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dielectric versus optical response of chevron ferroelectric liquid crystals

Dielectric and optical methods to investigate the response of surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals (SSFLCs) of the chevron structure are examined and compared in the case of the azimuthal mode of collective relaxation processes. It is found that the variation of an effective (averaged over the chevron cell volume) dielectric permittivity tensor under the influence of a weak alternating external electric field is approximately equivalent to the transformation of this tensor as a consequence of the rotation of the laboratory frame around the axis perpendicular to the smectic plane about a small angle. Then, using an analytic solution of the equation of motion describing the azimuthal rotation of molecules, it is shown that both of the analysed approaches to calculate and measure the response of SSFLCs yield consistent results for these rotational dynamic processes. This allows the calculation of the spontaneous polarization of the unit volume of chevron slabs, provided that the pretilted azimuthal angle (in the absence of an applied electric field) within the smectic plane is known.