Analysis of Optical Flickering Effect in Nematic Liquid Crystals using Total Reflection Time-Resolved Spectroellipsometry

Abstract

The optical flickering effect in a nematic ECB cell has been studied using total-reflection time-resolved spectroellipsometry (TRSE). Under an applied bipolar electric field, optical flickering arises from a change in internal electric field caused by various factors such as the presence of ionic impurities and surface charges. In the present study, in order to investigate the relationships between flickering frequency and the various factors that cause optical flickering, we examine the frequency dependence of flickering magnitude and waveform. We found that the magnitude of optical flickering in the middle frequency region (0.1lkHz to lkHz) caused by high-mobility ionic impurities increases after the aging process.