Angular dependent optical transmission of twisted nematic liquid-crystal layers

The angular-dependent light transmission of a twisted nematic layer between crossed polarizers in an electric or magnetic field depends mainly on the induced orientation of the director in the middle part of the layer. Measurements and computations compare favourably.     

Entanglement-free determination of pretilt angles of twisted nematic liquid-crystal cells by phase measurement

The pretilt angle of a twisted nematic(TN) liquid crystal display has a strong effect on viewing angles and response times of the display as well as shifting the light-leaking disclination lines into the black-matrix area within pixels of a thin-film-transistor driven TN panel for a high contrast ratio. In this Letter, we develop an optical method to determine the TN pretilt angle based on heterodyne measurements of the phase versus the incident angle of a thin TN cell subjected to out-of-plane rotations. We believe that our method of measuring phases has advantages of simpler setup and calculations, better stability, and less sensitive to ambient electromagnetic interference than the commonly used method of measuring intensities.     

Coexisting nematic and smectic-A phases in a twisted liquid-crystal cell

Twisted homogeneously planar-aligned nematic liquid-crystal cells are cooled into the smectic- A phase. The expected defective structure does not form. Instead the cells still show good optical-guiding characteristics. Exploration of the cells using a half-leaky guided-mode arrangement reveals that the liquid-crystal phase separates into three or more regions. Adjacent to both the upper and lower boundaries is a region of highly twisted nematic liquid crystal. In the center of the cell is one or more homogeneous smectic- A regions with smectic layers normal to the cell surfaces, separated by twisted nematic. As the cell is cooled so the smectic- A regions grow in thickness with the nematic regions progressively thinning but with increased twist gradient. A theoretical model of these novel results is presented.     

Relaxation of the director field in the form of a traveling wave in twisted nematic cells

The orientational relaxation of the director field toward its equilibrium orientation in the form of a traveling wave is investigated. It is shown that the nonlinear relaxation can occur in the form of a traveling wave in a twisted nematic cell under specific conditions for the external electric field and material parameters characterizing the nematic liquid crystal. The calculations of the relaxation processes in the form of traveling waves have demonstrated that these nonlinear processes in the twisted nematic cell proceed more easily when the initial perturbation of the director is induced in the vicinity of one of the bounding cell surfaces.     

Director reorientation in twisted nematic liquid crystals due to thermomechanical effect

We have studied molecular director reorientation in a twisted nematic liquid crystal induced by a two-dimensional temperature gradient. We studied the effect of rate change between the temperature gradients in two directions. Our obtained director reorientations are in the range that can be observed experimentally very easily.     

Electric method for studying reorientation dynamics of the nematic liquid crystal director

A method has been proposed for studying the reorientation dynamics of the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) director using the results of measurements of the electric response of an LC cell. The simulation of the time dependences of the current in an LC cell with a homogeneous orientation is carried out upon variation of the applied voltage, the initial tilt angle of the director, dielectric anisotropy, and the elasticity coefficient, as well as the dynamic viscosity, density, and ion mobility in the NLC. A comparison of the experimental and computational curves of the electric response for NLC 5CB shows their good agreement. The method makes it possible to monitor the steady-state current, the density, and the ion mobility in NLCs.     

Fluid motion and molecular reorientation in a homeotropically orientated nematic liquid-crystal cell

The linearized Ericksen-Leslie differential equations, which couple fluid motion and director reorientation to each other, are reduced to a set of time varying differential equations for two pulsed optical waves incident at an angle upon a homeotropically orientated liquid-crystal cell. The differential equations are solved by a numerical method. The fluid velocity and the director angle are plotted as a function of space and time. It is shown that the reaction of fluid motion upon director reorientation is small.     

Study of light-induced reorientation of the nematic liquid crystal director by birefringence dynamics

It is proposed to apply the birefringence method to measure the threshold of the light-induced Freedericksz transition and the nonlinearity enhancement factor of nematic liquid crystals by director relaxation dynamics in the light field. A birefringence change is recorded by interference of ordinary and extraordinary components of the light beamaffecting the liquid crystal director orientation. The Freedericksz transition thresholds and nonlinearity enhancement factors are measured for the samples doped with comb-shaped polymers with various degrees of polymerization. The determined thresholds are in agreement with the results obtained by the aberrational self-action method.     

Surface-anchoring properties related to the distribution of polyimide chains in a twisted nematic liquid-crystal cell

On the basis of a general Rapini and Papoular equation and the unified surface-anchoring energy, surface-anchoring strength is newly defined theoretically as a function of the azimuthal deviation angle of the surface liquid-crystal directors and the statistical distribution of polyimide chains in a typical twisted nematic liquid-crystal cell. Then these are determined experimentally by the surface second-harmonic generation method, which is nonlinear optics, and the optical phase retardation method. We assume that the anisotropy distribution of polyimide chains induced by the rubbing strength is dominated by a Gaussian distribution around the rubbing direction.     

Changes of twisted nematic liquid-crystal layers by frequency switching of applied electric fields

Electric fields of low and high frequency were applied successively to a twisted nematic layer consisting of a material with a dielectric anisotropy whose sign depends on the frequency. Six different areas have been observed which are found to have twist angles of ±π/2, ±3π/2 and ±5π/2. The formation process of these regions is described in some detail.     

Voltage sensitivity of the optical nonlinearity in nematic liquid-crystal cells

The influence of an external quasi-static electric field on the third-order nonlinear optical properties of a nematic liquid crystal has been studied. We demonstrate both in theory and experiment that the cell behaves like a Kerr-Medium. The sensitivity of the cell can be controlled by the applied voltage. If optical feedback is provided by the use of a dielectric mirror, optical bistability can be achieved. The switching behaviour of the cell may also be controlled by the applied voltage.     

Inhomogeneous threshold director reorientation in a planar nematic flexoelectric cell with finite anchoring energy

The dependence of the threshold parameters and the period of the electric-field-induced spatially periodic reorientation of the director in a flexoelectric nematic liquid crystal (NLC) on the anchoring conditions at the surface of a planar NLC cell has been studied. The threshold electric field and the corresponding wave-number of the periodic structure of the director field have been numerically calculated for arbitrary values of the anchoring energy. In the case of strong anchoring, the corresponding analytical expressions are obtained in a single-constant approximation. A decrease in the azimuthal anchoring energy leads to an increase in the intervals of possible values of the flexoelectric parameter ν and the ratio K₂/K₁ of the Frank elastic constants. A decrease in the polar anchoring energy leads to narrowing of these intervals as compared to the case of infinitely strong anchoring at the NLC cell surface.     

Traveling waves in twisted nematic liquid crystal cells

We have described a novel reorientation mechanism in the form of the traveling waves, under influence of an external electric field, directed parallel to both glass plates, which occur in the twisted nematic cell (TNC). It is found that the slowest velocity of the traveling front is proportional to the field strength, and, approximately, in three times higher than the front velocity corresponding to the non-traveling solution. The value of the critical electric field Ecr$E_{\mathrm{cr}}$ which may excite the traveling waves in the TNC in π   times less than the value of the threshold electric field Eth$E_{\mathrm{th}}$ corresponding to the untwisted geometry.     

Influence of the structure of the director field on the optical properties of a nematic liquid-crystal droplet

The changes in the optical properties of a spherical, bipolar, liquid-crystal droplet due to the change in structure of its director field under the influence of an applied external field are investigated on the basis of calculations using the nested-ellipsoids model in the discretedipole approximation. Graphs are plotted for the attenuation efficiency factor and the angular structure of the scattered radiation for the two typical cases of strong and weak dependence of the optical properties of the droplet on the change in structure of its director field. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 86–90 (November 1999)     

Thermomechanical reorientation in nematic liquid crystals

Thermomechanical mechanism of the director reorientation in twisted nematic liquid crystals caused by the one-dimensional longitudinal temperature gradient is predicted and studied theoretically. The calculated director reorientations are in the range that can be measured experimentally very easily.     

Simulating particle dispersions in nematic liquid-crystal solvents

A new method is presented for mesoscopic simulations of particle dispersions in nematic liquid-crystal solvents. It allows efficient first-principles simulations of the dispersions involving many particles with many-body interactions mediated by the solvents. A simple demonstration is shown for the aggregation process of a two dimensional dispersion.     

Ferromagnetic nanoparticles suspensions in twisted nematic

Ferromagnetic nanoparticles insertions in nematic liquid crystals (NLC) in twisted configuration are studied and a theoretical model is proposed to explain the results. Experimental observation revealed that nanoparticles tend to overcrowd in long strings parallel to the rubbing direction of the alignment substrate of the LC cell. Their behavior under external field was studied and their interaction with their nematic host is described using elastic continuum theory.     

Reorientational optical nonlinearity of nematic liquid-crystal cells near the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature

We address the reorientational optical nonlinearity of homogeneously aligned neamtic liquid-crystal (NLC) cells. The propagation of light in NLC cells depend strongly on temperature. At a temperature approaching the clearing point, an undulating beam and multifocal points are observed in the NLC cell by use of a polarizing optical microscope. Using a conoscopic technique, we observed novel consecutive concentric and parabolic patterns projected onto a screen. Optical energy is considered to compete with thermal energy to affect NLC's orientation and to generate singularities in the steady state. A model of the configuration of the liquid crystal's orientation is proposed.     

Surface reorientation dynamics of nematic liquid crystals

In this paper we report an experimental investigation on the dynamics of the azimuthal director reorientation at a nematic-solid interface. Three qualitatively different kinds of substrates have been investigated: I) intrinsically anisotropic SiO-substrates (-evaporation), II) isotropic SiO-substrates (-evaporation) and III) rubbed PVA-substrates. In the case II), an in-plane anisotropy was induced cooling slowly the thermotropic nematic liquid crystal (NLC) from the isotropic phase in the presence of a 0.75 T magnetic field. The reorientation dynamic of the surface azimuthal director angle at the switching-on and off of a magnetic (or electric) field has been investigated. All the substrates show comparable azimuthal anchoring energies and two dynamic regimes: a fast dynamic response, driven by the bulk director reorientation and an extremely slow reorientation. The slow dynamics is explained in terms of anisotropic adsorption of NLC molecules on the solid substrate and is well represented by a stretched exponential. Received 7 December 1998