Horizontal chevron configurations in ferroelectric liquid crystal cells induced by high electric fields

Abstract

Application of a high electric field to a S∗_c ferroelectric liquid crystal cell may cause the formation of horizontal chevron configurations with the smectic layers tilted by the amount of the chevron angle (in the case of the present investigation equal to the director tilt angle) with respect to the normal to the rubbing direction of the cell substrates. The layer structure resembles that of the well-known vertical chevron configuration, but in the plane of the substrate instead of perpendicular to it, and is similar to that recently reported for the stripe-shaped texture. Between crossed polarizers, the two domain types appear to switch in opposite directions when an a.c. electric field is applied. The temperature dependence of the observation of horizontal chevron structures was investigated and an explanation is proposed analogous to that for the stripe texture model.