Analysis of Surface Orientation in a Smectic Liquid Crystal Showing V-shaped Switching by Attenuated Total Internal Reflection

Abstract

Thresholdless, hysteresis-free, V-shaped switching exhibits attractive characteristics for active matrix display devices. Since the V-shaped switching behavior depends on the surface condition, molecular orientation in the vicinity of the surface is important. We used attenuated total internal reflection (ATIR) technique to probe tile molecular orientation and switching near the alignment layer of a smectic liquid crystal cell showing V-shaped switching. It was shown that tile molecules near the surface collectively switch as observed in tile bulk and that the molecules near the surface form a twisted state even in the application of the field.