Solitons in surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals and the determination of the twist elastic constant

Abstract

Excitation of solitary waves and their propagation in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells under alternating external electric field is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The effect of solitary waves on electro-optic response spectra is analyzed for different amplitudes of applied fields, temperatures, and sample thicknesses. It is shown that solitons can only be excited within narrow ranges of frequencies of the sufficiently strong electric fields. The minimal frequency, at which soliton waves appear in ferroelectric smectic liquid crystals, is found to be related to the material constants of these systems. It is proved that measuring this threshold frequency gives the possibility to determine one of the material parameters, if the others are known. In this way, the intra-smectic-layer elastic constant is found for systems with the chevron geometry.

Keywords:

• liquid crystals
• chevron structure
• electro-optic response
• solitons
• elastic constant

Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the funds for science in years 2010–2013 as a research project.