Cusp Catastrophe Model for Description of Bistability in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals

We propose a new theoretical approach for description of the equilibrium and bistable states of ferroelectric liquid crystal. A sample of ferroelectric liquid crystal is considered in the “bookshelf” geometry under the influence of electric field. Continuum and perturbation theories are used in order to establish the relation between the scale coefficients in the expansion for the azimuthal angle. The equilibrium states of ferroelectric SmC* are determined in the framework of the catastrophe theory.