Low temperature effects on the response time of liquid crystal displays

Abstract

Low temperature effects on the liquid crystal response time for mobile displays are investigated. We studied the rotational viscosity and elastic constants of two commercial liquid crystal mixtures in the range from −20 to 60 °C. At low temperatures, rotational viscosity still follows the modified Arrhenius law well but elastic constants are ∼30%–40% larger than those expected from mean-field theory. The responsible mechanism for this anomalous behavior originates from the increased fourth rank of order parameter at low temperatures.