Electrically Induced Change in the Orientation of the Helix Axis in a Chiral Liquid Crystal Layer with Photoinduced Binary Anchoring

Abstract

The spectral properties of chiral liquid crystal layers, where surface anchoring on one of the surfaces is binary (planar-homeotropic) modulated by photoinduced orientation, have been studied. Optical spectra for such layers have been measured not only along the normal to the layer, but also in the waveguide mode in a cholesteric liquid crystal layer. It has been shown that an electric field perpendicular to the layer induces an orientational transition of the original planar Grandjean structure with the helix axis perpendicular to the layer to a state with a deformed “lying” helix, when the axis lies in the plane of the layer. The effect of changing the direction of the helix axis is manifested in the emergence of photonic stop bands in the optical spectrum of light propagating in the waveguide mode.