Unique chiral compounds as part of mixtures with optimized properties for different types of FLCDs

Abstract

The effect of the molecular structure of liquid crystals on their mesomorphic and physico-chemical properties is studied. The unique compounds described in this work contain three or four phenyl rings. Modifications of the molecules via bridge fragments or via lateral substituents allowed the preparation and optimization of specific mixtures for different purposes. The formation of defect-free layers in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) stable against various mechanical or temperature deformations is studied. The impact of viscous-elastic and chiral properties on the formation of smectic C* layers were established. A new electro-optic effect based on chiral-nematic mixtures for creating high-speed devices with switching time less than 1 ms was developed. All the boundary conditions necessary for the realization of this effect were experimentally investigated.

Keywords:

• chiral compounds
• helical pitch
• V-shaped switching
• shock-free
• fast-switching chiral-nematic

Acknowledgements

We thank the German ministry BMBF for support of a bilateral exchange project.