Inducing monodomain blue phase liquid crystals by long-lasting voltage application during temperature variation |
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Authors: | H. Claus O. Willekens O. Chojnowska R. Dąbrowski J. Beeckman |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Electronics and Information Systems, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;2. Institute of Chemistry, Warsaw Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland |
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Abstract: | We demonstrate a new successful technique for inducing a monodomain in blue phase (BP) liquid crystals (BPLCs). By application of an AC voltage during the cooling or heating of the material into the BP temperature range, a fairly homogeneous BP area was obtained, compared to the case without voltage. We determined that applying a voltage of 3.3 V/µm was very effective in terms of obtaining a monodomain: for four of the seven different applied cooling/heating rates an area ratio of more than 99% was obtained for one particular BP orientation. This study describes a successful and replicable technique to make a BPLC monodomain, which is important for the development of BPLCs and other applications. |
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Keywords: | Monodomain blue phase liquid crystals electrical treatment |
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