Flexoelectric Surface Switching of Bistable Nematic Devices

Mechanisms of flexoelectric switching in a zenithally bistable nematic device

Flexoelectric effects in nematic liquid crystals are well known to occur through combinations of either the sum or the difference of the splay and bend polarizations. In this work we examine the role of both mechanisms in the switching of zenithally bistable nematic devices, and conclude that both can cause bistable switching. Interestingly, we find that the most important flexoelectric coeffic...

Nanomechanics of flexoelectric switching

J. Očenášek,1 H. Lu,2 C. W. Bark,3 C. B. Eom,3 J. Alcalá,4 G. Catalan,5,6 and A. Gruverman2 1New Technologies Research Centre, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, 30614 Plzeň, Czech Republic 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska 68588, USA 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA 4Departmen...

Surface Walls on a Bistable Anchoring of Nematic Liquid Crystals

We observe the defects separating nematic domains of two easy orientations, above a bistable orienting SiO evaporated glass plate. The defects are coreless walls. Their width depends on the bulk texture imposed by the neInatic cell geometry. For thin enough saInples, we have found situations where the wall thickness diverges, I.e., where the texture can force a surface orientation exactly along...

Threshold Flexoelectric Effect in Nematic Liquid Crystal

Comment on "Optical determination of flexoelectric coefficients and surface polarization in a hybrid aligned nematic cell".

We argue that the experimental determination of the flexoelectric coefficients and the surface polarization of the p-pentyl-cyanobiphenil liquid crystal, recently reported by Mazzulla et al. [Phys. Rev. E 64, 021708 (2001)] is questionable. This conclusion follows from the hypothesis performed by the authors to extract the flexoelectric coefficients and the surface polarization from the reflect...