電場下におけるコレステリック液晶滴の回転駆動と並進駆動

抄録

We have attempted to control the rotational and translational motions of cholesteric liquid crystal droplet using electric fields. The cholesteric liquid crystal (4-Cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl with chiral dopant) material is sandwiched between glass plates, and two types of electrode patterns treated on the glass plates: (1) homogeneous electrode pattern and (2) interdigitated array electrode. The cholesteric liquid crystal droplets are suspended in the isotropic phase, and thus the density of the droplet and surrounding liquid is almost same. From the experimental results, it is found that the helical axis of the chiral structure of the molecular orientation field tends to align perpendicular to the field inducing the rotational motion of the droplets. On the other hand, the pulsed electric fields cause the translational motion of the droplet perpendicular to the helical axis and the electric field. Thus, the three dimensional motion control of the cholesteric liquid crystal droplet might be achieved by the proper choice of the electric fields and the electrode patterns.