Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Cells Research Articles

Domain reorientation due to smectic layer instability in high tilt angle-based surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell

High tilt angle (45°) ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in surface stabilized geometry, having no chiral smectic A (SmA∗) phase, has been studied for the reorientation of the smectic layers near the transition temperature (Tc). The electro-optical studies have shown the stripe domain formation in which the liquid crystal molecules are aligned along the rubbing direction, but the smectic layers are tilted away from the rubbing direction at room temperature. In such high tilt angle FLCs, the molecular alignment and smectic layer formation start from bottom and top rubbed grooves at Tc. The domain formation of the FLC takes place in the middle of the top and bottom surfaces due to the frustration of the dipolar interaction. The smectic layer switching is observed by optical microscopy and confirmed by the dielectric spectroscopy method near Tc of SmC∗ and chiral nematic phases. Domain switching has shown a larger switching angle than the molecular tilt angle within the smectic layer. These studies are expected to be significant for understanding the smectic layer structure and the domain switching process, which may pave the way for large optical switching devices.

Effect of rubbing symmetry on polarization distribution in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal cells

It is a significant issue in controlling the polarization distribution in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal cells. We investigated the polarization configuration of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals on the surface and in the bulk of parallel/anti-parallel cells with rubbed substrates and proposed the polarization models in each cell. It is found that on the surface of rubbed polyimide films, the polarization direction is fixed and opposite to the rubbing direction. Splay and twist distribution of the polarization are formed in parallel and anti-parallel cells, respectively.

26.1: Dual Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Polarization Converter for Fast (100 kHz) and Bi‐stable Beam Steering Based on Pancharatnam‐Berry Devices

A high‐efficiency (97%) fast polarization converter (100 kHz) is achieved using Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC). Innovatively, by cascading FLC cells, no diffraction and residual light loss are achieved. The flickering is less than 5%.. The contrast ratio is 1000:1. Bi‐stable focus modulation is acheived. It is a promising candidate not just for display technologies, but also for high‐ efficiency beam‐steering applications, such as Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR), Light Ranging and Detection (LiDAR).

Lateral electric field switching in thin ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal cells.

This study shows that, in cells with small thicknesses, the permanent polarization in the ferroelectric nematic phase of RM734 is aligned in the direction opposite to the rubbing direction. The electrode configuration induces an in-plane field near one substrate and a normal field near the other substrate. At low voltages, the permanent polarization rotates parallel to the substrate plane when its original orientation is at an angle with the electric field. The rotation occurs over a distance of more than 100 μm, where the applied electric field is very small. At higher voltages, the polarization aligns perpendicularly to the substrates under the influence of the transverse electric field. After removing the voltage, sometimes a slow reorientation of the polarization can be observed, which is ascribed to the slow release of ionic species. The results provide insight into the complex mechanisms that are involved in the switching of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals.

Enhanced dielectric properties of Nematic liquid crystal doped with ferroelectric nanoparticles

ABSTRACT In this work, we report the electrical and dielectric behaviours of a ferroelectric nanoparticle-doped liquid crystal cell using the impedance and dielectric spectroscopic measurements in the frequency range 1 Hz – 2 MHz. The impact suitable equivalent electric circuit is proposed and the circuit parameters are obtained using the impedance spectroscopy technique. The impact of the nanoparticles on these parameters which attributed to mobile charge carriers accumulating near the electrodes of the cell is demonstrated and discussed. The presence of nanoparticles is found to increase the dielectric anisotropy (Δε) with maintaining a low loss tangent. As a result, a highly Δε = 120 for frequencies <100 Hz and Δε = 27 for f > 100 Hz is achieved. The dielectric measurements show that the presence of the nanoparticles leads to the appearance of low-frequency relaxation (f ≈ 500 Hz) due to the interfacial polarisation, a slight increase in the diffusion coefficient and the ion mobility. This work provides a foundation to quantitatively investigate the interface effect in dielectric composites.

Phase-only modulation of light.

We disclose the method to obtain polarization insensitive phase-only modulation that preserves both the state and the degree of polarization of light modulated using a medium with controlled birefringence. We find that, in the double-pass configuration involving reflection from the Faraday rotator mirror, such a medium acts as the phase-only modulator. The experimental data measured in the Michelson-interferometer-based setup for deformed-helix ferroelectric liquid crystal cells are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical results. For such cells, we experimentally demonstrate high-frequency (4 kHz modulation rate) 2π phase-only light modulation governed by the average phase shift and solve the problem of optical axes switching.

Compact actively Q-switched laser for sensing applications

Current active Q-switching is mainly generated by acousto-optical modulators (AOMs) or electro-optical modulators (EOMs). However, EOMs make the setup bulky, while AOMs require the radiofrequency (RF) signal and water-cooling. We present a novel approach to active Q-switching of an integrated waveguide chip laser by utilizing a deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal cell (6mm×6mm) with a thickness of 2 mm. This device can be directly integrated onto the Ytterbium-doped waveguide chip and controlled by the electrical signal. In experiments, with an electrical signal with a pulse duration of 2 μs and a magnitude from 10 V to 84 V, the Q-switched lasers can be observed at a repetition rate ranging from 0.1 kHz to 20 kHz. The shortest pulse duration and the maximum slope efficiency is 38 ns and 22% respectively. This novel integrated and low-cost laser source is a promising tool for a broad range of applications such as gas sensing and LIDAR.

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

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.

Impact of twisted alignment on the smectic layer structure of ferroelectric liquid crystal

The twisted aligned cell of ferroelectric liquid crystal is assessed through electro-optical and dielectric spectroscopy and a comparison is made with antiparallel planar aligned cells of the same thickness around 8 μm. The study has been carried in two types of twisted aligned samples, one is natural cooled sample in the heating chamber and another is slow cooled at the rate of 0.05 °C/min. The influential distinct results have been observed in natural cooled twisted cells. In natural cooled cells, the helicoidal structure at the surface and in the bulk of the cell is distinct and contributes separately to the response of the cell. On the other hand, at the same cooling condition in twisted cell, the smectic layers are in a twisted state resulting into a non-uniform helical structure, therefore, the partial helicoidal unwound structure at the surface and in the bulk of the cell are not observed contributing to the dielectric permittivity separately unlike in planar aligned cell. The twisted cell is found to induce the restoring force within the sample. However, the slow cooling cycles on the twisted cell changes to the strain free equilibrium state, whereas the behavior of the planar sample cell remains unchanged. The studies are significant for the display devices based on twisted alignment of FLC cells.

ELECTRO-OPTICAL SWITCHING OF THE MAIN OPTICAL AXIS OF A FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTAL SPIRAL NANOSTRUCTUREIN A PLANAR-ORIENTED DISPLAY CELL

In a known display cell with the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) and interdigital electrodes on one of the glass substrates, the “In-Plane Switching” (IPS) mode is implemented, in which the NLC main optical axis reorients in a plane parallel to substrates, providing the most correct color reproduction at different angles view, up to 178 ° horizontally and vertically. Unfortunately, the creation of interdigital metal electrodes complicates and increases the technological process cost and causes a decrease in image contrast. At the same time, experimental results and calculations based on classical electro-optics of crystals indicate that electrooptical switching in the IPS mode is a natural and intrinsic feature of a conventional (with continuous electrodes) display cell with a planar-oriented layer of the ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC), in which the effect of the deformed (by the electric field) helix FLC nanostructure is realized (DHF effect). In such a cell, the reorientation of the main optical axis under the influence of a weak electric field also occurs in the substrate plane if the FLC has a small pitch (about 100 nm or less) and a large tilt angle of molecules in the layer (about 38 ° or more). The dependences of the FLC cell light transmittance measured in this work, confirmed the achievement of the IPS electro-optical mode in the DHF FLC cell; moreover, the light modulation frequency was 1 kHz. Thus, while maintaining all the advantages of the IPS mode known in NLC, its implementation in FLC allows additionally obtaining technological advantages and multiple increase in modulation frequency.

Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals: Physics and Applications

Electrooptic modes with fast response and high contrast ratio are highly desirable in modern photonics and displays. Ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) are especially promising for fulfilling these demands by employing photoalignment technology in FLC cells. Three electrooptic modes including surface stabilized FLC (SSFLC), deformed helix ferroelectric (DHF) mode, and electrically suppressed helix (ESH) mode are reviewed with the corresponding electrooptic effects like bi- and multi-stable switching, continuous modulation of grayscale or phase, and high contrast switching. The general operation principles FLC electrooptic modes are described, and then the characteristics of each modes for potential applications are summarized. With the advantages of controllable anchoring energy, the photoalignment provides FLC samples with uniform alignment and high contrast ratio. The fast FLCs with a high resolution and high contrast can be used in the next generation display including field sequential color FLC microdisplays, as well as switchable 2D/3D televisions.

Modeling of electro-optic characteristics in vertically aligned deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals

New areas of application in the realms of fast phase modulators are stimulating fundamental studies in ferroelectric liquid crystalline materials. Investigation of temperature effect on light transmittance in vertically aligned deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal cell is the focus of our study. A fairly linear Kerr constant temperature dependence for two ferroelectric liquid crystal mixtures was analyzed by using linear regression analysis. The key result of this paper represents light transmittance dependencies as a function of squared electric field for a certain temperature range. We also report that strongly pronounced Kerr constant temperature dependence results in several temperatures with 2[Formula: see text] and higher phase modulation for the given electric field. The physics of change in light transmission plots has been analyzed.

Fast switching ferroelectric liquid crystal Pancharatnam-Berry lens.

A ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) cell with continuously alignment structure is realized by a polarization hologram method for fabricating a Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) lens, which is employed as a concave/convex lens. The PB phase can be maintained by the optical axis in-plane switching; meanwhile, its diffraction efficiency can be tuned in a certain range by electrically controlling azimuthal angle and optical biaxiality of the smectic helical structure realized by deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals. The measured diffraction efficiency of the fabricated device is up to 87% and the response time can be 300μs with a low electric voltage. The FLC PB lens can have potential applications in existing optical devices and the realization of FLC with continuous alignment structure can be further used for other LC-based optical devices.

Biaxial surface potential effects in polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

Biaxial surface potential effects in polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells

Development of ferroelectric liquid crystals with low birefringence

ABSTRACTWe propose an approach for development of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC) with low birefringence Δn. Two basic principles have been used to get lowering of Δn: selection of molecules with short chains of conjugation as components for achiral matrix and averaging of local refractive indices by FLC helical structure. FLC mixtures with low birefringence (0.07 < Δn < 0.10 at wavelength 589.3 nm of sodium line) were elaborated and investigated. They consist of an achiral matrix including both nematic and smectic liquid crystal components and of phenylpyrimidine derivatives as chiral dopants. The materials developed can be used for all basic electro-optical FLC modes such as surface stabilised FLC (SSFLC), deformed helix ferroelectrics (DHF) and electrically suppressed helix (ESH). The mixtures developed allow to reduce the FLC cells chromatic retardance variation due to the weaker birefringence dispersion as compared with the known FLC materials to date.

Interferometric and Uhlmann phases of mixed polarization states

In our investigation into the effects of the degree of polarization in modulation of partially polarized light we assume general settings of the interferometry of partially polarized lightwaves and perform theoretical analysis of the Uhlmann and the interferometric phases. We introduce the relative Uhlmann phase determined by the Uhlmann holonomies of interfering beams and show that the interferometric phase generalized to the case of nonunitary evolution can, similar to the Uhlmann phase, be cast into the holonomy defined form. By using the technique based on a two-arm Mach-Zehnder interferometer, two different dynamical regimes of light modulation are experimentally studied: (a) modulation of the input light by the rotating quarter-wave plate (QWP); and (b) modulation of the testing beam by a birefringent plate with electrically controlled anisotropy represented by the deformed-helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (DHFLC) cell. In the setup with the rotating QWP, the interferometric phase is found to be equal to the relative Uhlmann phase. Experimental and theoretical results being in excellent agreement both show that this phase is an oscillating function of the QWP angle and increases with the degree of polarization. For modulation by the DHFLC cell, the data derived from our electro-optic measurements are fitted using the theory of the orientational Kerr effect in FLCs. This theory in combination with the results of fitting is used to evaluate electric field dependencies of the interferometric and the Uhlmann phases.

Investigation of the Thickness Mode in Surface Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Cells

Dielectric properties of surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal (SSFLC) cells have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The thickness mode is found to consist of two relaxation processes. A decomposition of an analytical solution of the complex dielectric permittivity epsilon(omega) in terms of these processes is given. The experimental results show agreement with theory and lead to the conclusion that the thickness mode can be separated into two processes. It has been found that the ratio of the dielectric strengths for the two processes depends on the cell thickness, and that the ratio of their frequencies is approximately equal to 10. The lower frequency process is assigned to the relaxation within the bulk and the higher frequency process is assigned to the fluctuations of molecules at the two surfaces of the cell. The latter process is seen only in thicker cells for the reason that anchoring at surfaces predominantly controls the behaviour of thinner cells.

Mechanism of electrooptic switching time enhancement in ferroelectric liquid crystal/gold nanoparticles dispersion

ABSTRACTIt is well established that incorporation of nanoparticles (NPs) in the structure of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) leads to a decrease in their electrooptic response time. Several approaches have been suggested to explain this effect (decrease in rotational viscosity of FLCs, ions enhanced localised electric field, dipole–dipole interaction among NPs and FLC molecules, FLC ordering). In this article, we will report the role of the voltage divider formed by the structural elements of a FLC cell based on ferroelectric liquid crystal/gold nanospheres (FLC/GNSs) dispersion in enhancement of the switching time. Using the impedance spectroscopic measurements, it was demonstrated that the dispersing of GNSs leads to the increase in the voltage drop on FLC/GNSs layer in comparison with the pristine FLC one. Consequently, the electrooptic response time of the FLC/GNSs cell is faster than that of the pristine one. However, the rotational viscosity of the FLC does not depend on the presence of the GNSs.

Space-inhomogeneous phase modulation of laser radiation in an electro-optical ferroelectric liquid crystal cell for suppressing speckle noise.

Spatially inhomogeneous modulation of a phase delay with the depth of the order π or more makes it possible to destroy phase relations in a laser beam passing through an electro-optical cell with the ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) and, as a consequence, to suppress speckle noise in images formed by this beam. Such a modulation is a consequence of chaotic changes in the position of the scattering indicatrix of helix-free FLC, when an electro-optical cell is simultaneously supplied with a low-frequency and high-frequency bipolar control voltage. In this work, the phase modulation and effective suppressing of the speckles are realized using a new type of helix-free FLC material with periodic deformations of smectic layers.

2D-3D switchable display based on a passive polymeric lenticular lens array and electrically suppressed ferroelectric liquid crystal.

We reveal a 2D-3D switchable lens unit that is based on a polarization-sensitive microlens array and a polarization selector unit made of an electrically suppressed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (ESHFLC) cell. The ESHFLCs offer a high contrast ratio (∼10k∶1) between the crossed polarizers at a low applied electric field (∼1.7 V/μm) with a small switching time (<50 μs). A special driving scheme, to switch between a 2D and 3D mode, has been developed to avoid unwanted issues related to DC accumulation in the ferroelectric liquid crystal without affecting its optical quality. The proposed lens unit is characterized by low power consumption, ultrafast response, and 3D crosstalk <5%, and can therefore find application in TVs, cell phones, etc.