Analysis of Electric Field-Induced Phase Transition Behavior in Blue Phase

Abstract

Blue Phases (BPs) have three dimensionally ordered molecular alignments. Because of peculiar characteristics originating from these structures of BPs, they are expected to be applied for electro-optical devices and high-speed response display devices. However, an electric field-induced phase transition from BPs to a chiral nematic phase must be suppressed for such applications. The physical mechanism and dominating factors of the electric field-induced phase transition have not been much investigated so far. In this study, we investigated behavior of electric field-induced phase transition in BP by polarizing optical microscope observations, reflection spectra measurements and electric capacitance measurements.