The Impact of Static Disorder on Vibrational Resonance in a Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal

Vibrational resonance manifests itself in certain nonlinear systems that are subject to the action of a biharmonic force with very different frequencies. A proper frequency and/or amplitude of the high-frequency harmonic signal can lead to a resonantly enhanced response of the system with respect to the low frequency signal. In the present study we extent the concept of vibrational resonance to a thermotropic bistable surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell. Furthermore, we systematically investigate the impact of different origins of static disorder and reveal that different kinds of static disorder affect the resonant response in a qualitative different way.