A unique electro-optical behavior in the “chiral smectic C phase” liquid crystal cell is introduced in conjunction with possible interpretation of the specific molecular initial alignment. This cell shows continuous gray shades capability with keeping fast optical response such as less than 100 ms at room temperature. This gray shade has hysteresis-free, which suggests possible shielding of spontaneous polarization in the cell. Asymmetrical optical response between rise and decay profiles with very small temperature dependence strongly suggests the shielding of polarization in the cell. Therefore, this particular cell may be called as the polarization shielded smectic liquid crystal display or the PSS-LCD. The unique electro-optical response phenomena and their interpretation are discussed here.

Date Published: 28 May 2004
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 5289, Liquid Crystal Materials, Devices, and Applications X and Projection Displays X, (28 May 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.526200

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5289:
Liquid Crystal Materials, Devices, and Applications X and Projection Displays X
Ming Hsien Wu; Liang-Chy Chien, Editor(s)