Role of cell thickness in tailoring the dielectric and electro-optical parameters of ferroelectric liquid crystals

Abstract

Here, we report thickness dependence of dielectric and electro-optical parameters in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) without surface stabilisation. The dependence of dielectric and electro-optical parameters on cell thickness is observed by dielectric spectroscopy and electro-optical measurements. The dielectric permittivity (Formula presented.) measured by varying the cell thickness showed increase of (Formula presented.) with increase of cell thickness which is attributed to the presence of more ions and larger contributions of Goldstone mode in thick cells. The spontaneous polarisation also shows increment with increase of cell gap up to certain thickness range. The rotational viscosity decreases with increase in the cell thickness whereas the response time is more for thicker cells. The decrease in the rotational viscosity is attributed to lowering of elastic deformation with increase in cell thickness and the response time is directly proportional to cell gap. These studies would be utilised to understand the effect of cell thickness on dielectric and electro-optical properties of FLC materials and optimising the material parameters with cell thickness for better and efficient liquid-crystal-based devices. ? 2015 Taylor & Francis.