A dual frequency addressed polymer stabilized pi‐cell liquid crystal device

Abstract

Dual frequency addressing of nematic pi‐cell devices produces submillisecond switching times since the liquid crystal can be driven both parallel and perpendicular to the applied field and there is no kick‐back of the director during switching. The nucleation of the V state in devices containing dual frequency liquid crystal materials is much slower than that in conventional pi‐cells, however. Polymer stabilization of the V state eliminates the need for nucleation each time the device is used. In this paper we present a polymer stabilized pi‐cell containing a dual frequency liquid crystal material, and show that the presence of the polymer network significantly influences the switching of the device. Some optimization of the addressing scheme is required when switching the polymer stabilized device in order to avoid transient formation of the twisted state. Using this optimization, the switching time is under 3 ms across a wide range of addressing voltages.

¹Now at: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, ML3 9PL.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Merck UK, the EPSRC and the COMIT Faraday Partnership for their financial support, and Professor John Goodby and his colleagues at the University of York for synthesizing some components of the TX‐2A material used here and measuring its absorption spectrum.

Notes

¹Now at: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, ML3 9PL.