Surface effects in the model of polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

Abstract

The interplay between volume and surface interactions in polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals often results in the so-called quasi-bookshelf or tilted layer structure. Unambiguous description of the most probable orientation of the long molecular axes within a ferroelectric liquid crystal cell (director profile) stabilized by polymer network implies the consideration of the confined volume effects. The model of polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell with a quasi-bookshelf layer structure was investigated by using the liquid crystal continuum theory. Promising applications of the biaxial surface potential for preparation of ferroelectric liquid crystal cells with the desired surface parameters has motivated us to embark upon the proposed model. To fully consider the surface effects, the proposed model accounts splay deformation of the spontaneous polarization. This enables us to estimate the effective applied voltage across the cell. The effect of polymer stabilization on the director orientation profiles across the cell was examined. We have found that the director-polymer network interaction coefficient induces insignificant difference between the director orientation profiles. We believe that this theoretical model can be useful for fabrication of experimental ferroelectric liquid crystal cells.