PC08 Smectic Liquid Crystal Cells Fabricated Using a Surface Layer with INS Phase Sequence

Abstract

It is very difficult to obtain a uniform alignment of smectic liquid crystal which has no nematic phase in the sequence (e. g. AFLC) because when the phase transition of isotropic to smectic phase occurs, the smectic layer structure forms at the same time that the molecules align. We propose an idea to fabricate the smectic liquid crystal cell with a uniform alignment by the use of an intervening interfacial layer with iso.-nematic-smectic (INS) phase sequence.