Local Dynamics of Director Reorientation under Electric Field in Helical LC Structure

Abstract

The influence of an electric field on the trajectory of an extraordinary light ray in a layer of a chiral liquid crystal (LC) with a 180° turn of the director is studied. In the absence of the electric field and at a large angle of incidence the ray reflects inside the layer and return back through the surface which it entered. The applied electric field distorts the initial configuration of the director. It results in a change of the ray trajectory so that the light is propagated through the LC cell. The study of the temporal characteristics of the effect at various angles of incidence of light on the layer makes it possible to examine the local reorientation of the director inside the cell.

Keywords:

• helical liquid crystal
• Freedericksz transition
• optical response

PACS:

• 42.70.Df
• 42.25.Bs
• 42.25.Fx
• 42.25.Gy