Abstract
Dynamic response of nematic ECB liquid crystal has been studied by time-resolved spectroellipsometry(TRSE)in reflection(dye-doped TRSE and total-reflection TRSE)and transmission configurations. Reflection TRSE can isolate the dynamic response of surface molecules(〜60nm), while transmission TRSE provides information about the bulk reorientation dynamics. Comparison of the two TRSE observations indicates that the surface molecules undergo much faster reorientation than the bulk molecules. Characteristic feature of all experimental observations can be quantitatively reproduced by a 4Å〜4 simulation based on the Frank's elastic continuum theory. The present study opens up a new field of quantitative analysis of liquid-crystal reorientation dynamics, in particular, the director deformation dynamics in the very vicinity of substrate surface, which is of critical importance in design and fabrication of high-performance liquid crystal display devices.
