Smectic film geometry

Freely suspended smectic film geometry, (a) Schematic of the film holder based on fixed frame and a wiper, (b) A frame with variable size. 

Fig. 5.10.9. The SSFLC cell The bookshelf geometry of a thin film of smectic C sandwiched between two glass plates (a) field up (normal to the plane of the diagram) and (b) field down .

Smectic materials have already demonstrated their potential use in very large [15-24 in. (37.5-60 cm)] flat panels with very high resolution, a potential that nematic materials do not have if not used in combination with thin film transistors. All smectic materials essentially use the same inplane switching mechanisms, the cone mode or soft mode, based on the very fragile bookshelf geometry. This has long been... 

---