Structure of surface-stabilized antiferroelectric liquid crystals cells

A comprehensive expression describing the director profile and energy parameters of surface-stabilized antiferroelectric liquid crystals has been derived. The expression is based on a previously developed ferroelectric liquid crystal model in which two contiguous smectic layers have been simultaneously computed. The antiferroelectric behaviour is mathematically described as an additional energy term relating these layers to each other through a coupling constant. The new energy term gives significant differences in the material behaviour, as compared with the ferroelectric phase. Electrically induced antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transitions are predicted as well. The effect of every term on the general expression has been analyzed. Comparisons with ferroelectric results are also included.