Abstract
Homogenous alignment of smectic liquid crystal is demonstrated by applying bidirectional shear with controlled amplitude and frequency. For shear amplitudes smaller than 10um and frequencies(5~100Hz), the smectic layer was found to align in the direction of shear. The quality of alignment of evaluated from the contrast ratio obtained when the sample was placed between crossed polarizers and set at 0degree and 45degree to the transmission axes. A monotonic increase in the alignment quality was found with increasing shear amplitude.
