Fast switching electroclinic mixtures based on a series of chloroester homologues

Abstract

Using chloroester homologues, two electroclinic mixtures (M₆₈ and M79) were formed. The mixed systems behaved similarly to the longer chain faster switching compounds. However by adding compounds with shorter alkyl chains attached to the core structure, the rotational viscosity of the system is reduced so that its switching speed is improved when compared with the pure compound. The magnitudes of the electroclinic coefficient for the two mixtures are very similar. However the switching time of M₆₈ is nearly half that of M₇₈. The shortest E-O response time of M68 is 83 ns which was estimated by dielectric measurements. The fastest mixture M68 has been successfully used in a single pixel electro-optic device, which should allow very fast SLMs to be made in the near future.

Key Words:

• electroclinic effect
• liquid crystals
• orthogonal chiral smectic
• electro-optic response