Director 3D spatial imaging in stripe domains of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal phase

Abstract

We reported that a fluorine-based liquid crystal compound (CnDIO) showed extremely large dielectric anisotropy of 10,000 or more in the ferroelectric nematic (NF) phase, and observed stripe texture called broken Schlieren in the planar surface alignment cell. However, the relationship between polar arrangement and the stripe texture is very unclear. In this study, we evaluate the 3D structure of liquid crystal directors in the stripe texture of CnDIO doped with a dichroic dye using a confocal laser scanning microscope to deduce the polar arrangement in NF phase.