Effect of the applied electric field on new cholesterics with extremely short pitch

ABSTRACT

New lactic acid derivatives have been prepared and studied and found that they form cholesteric phase with the helix pitch length in interval 120–200 nm within a broad temperature range. Due to the positive dielectric anisotropy and the short pitch, the applied electric field causes reversible optical changes in planar cell, in which the applied electric field reorients the long molecular axis. Presence of short pitch and possibility to effectively affect electro-optical properties are promising from the point of view of specific applications.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Lactic acid unit
• cholesteric phase
• line defects
• disclination

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by project: [Grant number 15-02843S] (Czech Science Foundation).