Lattice Orientation of Cholesteric Blue Phase II in Liquid Crystal Cell with Frustrated Alignment Patterns

Abstract

The lattice orientation of cholesteric blue phase II, which has attracted significant attention from both fundamental and practical perspectives, was investigated on stripe-patterned surfaces where the easy axis of the adjacent region changes discontinuously. When the easy axes of the adjacent patterns are orthogonal to each other, the lattice orientation depends on the patterned-region size. For a large regional period, the (110) lattice plane is parallel to the substrates, and its [001] axis is oriented corresponding to the easy axis in each region, while for a small period, owing to the orientational frustration caused by the elastic strain, the (100) plane is uniform regardless of the pattern.