Abstract
In smectic liquid crystals (SmLCs) having no nematic (N) phase in the phase sequence, such as antiferroelectric SmLCs and SmLCs with V-shaped electrooptical switching, it is hard to obtain the LC media which have a uniform molecular alignment structure. This is because the transition of isotropic (Iso) phase directly to Sm phase during the cooling gives rise to a non-uniform Sm layer structure due to the both occurance of molecular alignment and Sm layer formation at the same time. We propose an idea to fabricate defect-free SmLC cells in which the uniform Sm layer structure is realized by the use of an intervening surfacial LC layer with Iso-N-Sm (INS) phase sequence.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Mr. H. Fukuro, Mr. H. Endoh of Nissan Chem. Ind. for supplying polyimide materials. We also thank to Mr. S. Saito of Chisso Petrochem. for supplying liquid crystal materials.