Newly Developed Polymer-Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals: Microsized Bistable Domains and Monostable V-Shaped Switching

Abstract

We fabricated new polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal displays (PS-FLCDs) by UV photocure of doped monoacrylates with a mesogenic side chain at a temperature where the LC medium is in the SmC * phase under the application of a bipolar square-pulsed AC electric field. Then, we investgated the effect of polymer density on the molecular alignment structure of the PS-FLC by observation of the microscopic textures and measurement of the electrooptical characteristics. The PS-FLC with low concentration of polymer (4 wt%) exhibits bistable electrooptical characteristics accompanied with microsized domain switching. On the other hand, the PS-FLC with high concentration of polymer (10 wt%) exhibits monostable V-shaped electrooptical performance without a threshold.