Suppression of relaxation modes in dye dispersed SmC* phase

Abstract

We report the results of dielectric and electro-optical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC), Felix 17/100, exhibiting chiral smectic C phase and dye dispersed FLCs. The polarization measurement on pristine and dye dispersed FLC mixture shows decrease in the value of polarization, indicating the distribution of dye dipole in a direction opposite to the orientation of FLC molecule. The rotational viscosity also decreases accordingly as shown by the measurement of response time. Dielectric measurement shows existence of two relaxation modes both in pure FLC and dye dispersed FLC. The relaxation strength of Goldstone mode decreases with the dispersion of dye and the relaxation frequency of this mode shifts towards the high-frequency side. The second relaxation mode arises due to the formation of domains at the surface interface. The dispersion of dye into FLC suppresses the domains.