Development of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals/polymer composites and their electro-birefringence effect

Abstract

Liquid crystal/polymer composites (PDLCs) are electro-optical materials in which the intensity of transmitted light can be controlled by the application of an electric field, and are prepared by polymerization-induced phase separation caused by photopolymerization of isotropic precursors consisting of liquid crystals (LCs), photo-polymerizable monomers and photo-initiators. When the dimension of the phase separation structure formed is smaller than the visible wavelength, PDLCs become transparent and optically isotropic materials that exhibit the electro-birefringence effect. However, a strong electric field is required for the reorientation of LCs in such PDLC due to the anchoring effect of the interface with polymer. In this study, transparent PDLC using ferroelectric nematic LCs exhibiting large dielectric constants were prepared and their electro-birefringence effect were verified.