Thresholdless and hysteretic switching in aflc cells with polar anchoring

Abstract

Using a continuum model we have found both thresholdless and hysteretic switching in an antiferroelectric liquid crystal cell in which the surfaces induce polar anchoring. By minimizing the free energy of the system, which includes contributions from antiferro and ferroelectric ordering, electrostatic and elastic energy, we find three possible zero voltage ground states. Calculating the region of stability of each of these states leads to a phase diagram for the system. We find that, in certain regions of the phase diagram, the cell switches hystereti-cally whilst in others it exhibits thresholdless switching.

Key Words:

• antiferroelectric liquid crystals
• theory
• thresholdless switching
• polar anchoring
• phase diagram