Characterization of free standing chiral smectic C (SC*) ferroelectric liquid crystal films

Free standing ferroelectric liquid crystal films (FLCs) are used to characterise some commercially important FLCs in terms of the parameters of Landau-de Gennes mean field theory. In particular, the modelling included the effects of smectic cone angle profiles present within films as well as the effect of temperature variation on refractive indices. The results indicate that the technique may not be suitable for the reliable characterisation of FLC mixtures.

Keywords:

• ferroelectric
• free standing films
• Landau parameters
• FLC mixtures