Evaluation of the azimuthal angle of blue phases on uniaxial orientated substrates

Abstract

Cholesteric blue phases (BPs) possess great potential for next-generation electro-optic devices because they spontaneously form three-dimensional crystal structures with a high response speed. We have recently shown that the electro-optic Kerr effect of BPs is anisotropic [1], contrary to common understanding that it is isotropic. Although the anisotropy suggests the need for the alignment control of BPs, there are only a limited number of studies on the topic. In this study, we prepared two kinds of liquid crystal cells using either the rubbing or the photoalignment method, to gain insight on the orientation behavior of BP I crystals on substrates with a uniaxial anchoring potential. It was found that two types of substrates show different behaviors in the azimuthal orientation of the BP crystal.