Electro-optical behaviour of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) mixtures

In combination with the fabrication technique and the driving electronics, material parameters determine the static and dynamic director configuration and, therefore, the electrooptical behavior of the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) display (SSFLC), a promising technique for applications which require video frame rate and high spatial resolution, such as TV and computer monitors. The authors describe another important parameter, which is the type of texture that is induced by the application of AC electric fields. It is shown that the smectic layer structure of the display and thus its texture are irreversibly changed by exceeding a critical AC field amplitude that depends on the frequency, the temperature, and some material properties. In the altered textures the same FLC material exhibits strikingly different electrooptical properties.<>