Threshold liquid crystals

If we compare with figure C2.2.I I, we can see that this defonnation involves bend and splay of the director field. This field-induced transition in director orientation is called a Freedericksz transition [9, 106, 1071. We can also define Freedericksz transitions when the director and field are both parallel to the surface, but mutually orthogonal or when the director is nonnal to the surface and the field is parallel to it. It turns out there is a threshold voltage for attaining orientation in the middle of the liquid crystal cell, i.e. a deviation of the angle of the director [9, 107]. For all tliree possible geometries, the threshold voltage takes the fonn [9, 107]... 

VI Kopp, B Fan, HKM Vithana, and AZ Genack, Low-threshold lasing at the edge of a photonic stop band in cholesteric liquid crystals, Opt. Lett., 23 1707-1709, 1998. 

The theory of nematic liquid crystal deformation, forced by an electric field is well developed and permits to establish the relationship between the threshold voltage U, causing sample orientation, with Ae and elasticity constants of a liquid crystal (Kn). For the main S and B types of deformation the equation is the following27 ... 

In view of the effect of molecular mass on orientational phenomena the results of151) seem to be more explicable. In this work surprisingly low values for threshold voltage (U 8-40 V) and rise and decay times (x a 200 msec) were observed for an array of nematic polymers and copolymers. They are close to the corresponding values for low-molecular liquid crystals, which implies presumably that the polymers investigated were of low degrees of polymerization or had a very wide molecular mass distribution. 

Yoshida et al. recently disclosed an alternative method that allowed them to produce stable suspensions of gold nanoparticles (1-2 nm in diameter) in nematic liquid crystals [315]. They used a simple sputter deposition process, which allowed them to prepare thin liquid crystal films of well-dispersed gold nanoparticles in both 5CB and E47 (available from Merck) with a nanoparticle size depending on the used nematic liquid crystal. Unfortunately, the authors did not provide any details on whether the nanoparticles were capped with a ligand or bare, non-coated particles, which makes it difficult to assess and compare the reported thermal as well as electro-optic data. However, very similar effects were found as a result of nanoparticle doping, including lower nematic-to-isotropic phase transition temperatures compared to the used pure nematics as well as 10% lower threshold voltages at nanoparticle concentrations below 1 wt% [315]. 

BaTiC>3 particles are another very attractive and intensively studied type of nanoparticles in nematic liquid crystals. Cook et al. reported on an asymmetric Freedericksz transition, where doping nematic TL205 with single domain ferroelectric BaTiC>3 nanoparticles (9 nm in diameter) reduced or increased the threshold voltage by 0.8 V depending on the polarity of the applied voltage [149]. 

On a side note, Ouskova and co-workers also reported that the composite of magnetic /i-FejOs nanorods in 5CB showed lower threshold voltages than pure 5CB, and that the sensitivity of the nematic liquid crystal to external magnetic fields was increased in the presence of such magnetic nanorods [451]. Finally, several groups interested in the macroscopic organization and orientation of nanorods also reported on the formation of a lyotropic liquid crystal phase induced by the self-assembly of polymer-coated semiconductor nanorods [453—457], which might be used to improve the device performance, for example, of solar cells. 

The sharper thresholds required for the addressing of larger displays can be brought about by constructing liquid crystal cells with sharper transitions (see Fig. lc) (Boyd et al., 1982 Wilson et al., 1983), intrinsic threshold control, or by the addition of nonlinear electronic elements, extrinsic threshold control. Liquid crystal displays with gradual turn on such as DSM or GH LCDs always require extrinsic threshold control for matrix addressing. 

Fig. S. Matrix-addressed liquid crystal display using an FET as an extrinsic threshold device. The capacitor (dashed) is optional.

The application of an electric field above the threshold value results in a reorientation of the nematic liquid crystal mixture, if the nematic phase is of negative dielectric anisotropy. The optically active dopant then applies a torque to the nematic phase and causes a helical structure to be formed in the plane of the display. The guest dye molecules are also reoriented and, therefore, the display appears coloured in the activated pixels. Thus, a positive contrast display is produced of coloured information against a white background. The threshold voltage is dependent upon the elastic constants, the magnitude of the dielectric anisotropy, and the ratio of the cell gap to the chiral nematic pitch ... 

The Optical-Induced Freedericksz Transition of Nematic Liquid Crystal (5CB) doped with l%(w/w) of 5, 10, 15, 20-tetraphenylporphyrinatozinc( II) (ZnTPP) were studied. Excited by Ti Sappire laser with the 82MHz repetition rate and lOOfs pulse duration, the optical Freedericksz threshold of a 23.6pm-thickness planar alignment sample occurred at an intensity level of0.35mW/mm in contrast to the normally observed 83mW/mm value for pure 5CB. The coordination-bonding interaction between 5CB and ZnTPP were discussed by UV-vis and fluorescence spectra. We attribute the reduction of the optical Freedericksz threshold to the coordination-bonding interaction. 

Due to their large optical anisotropies, liquid crystals (LCs) have a large optical nonlinearity which is the result of molecular reorientation (Freedericksz transition) in an external field which exceeds the critical field [1], The high external field inhibits the application of LCs, and decreasing the threshold as low as possible is a difficult task [2], LCs doped with a small amount of absorbing dyes that could decrease the needed optical field intensity have been reported [3]. The basic assumption is that the anomalous reorientation of the director results from the interaction between the excited dye molecules and the host. However, this sample would easily degrade under the influence of laser radiation. 

Figure 4.9 Elastic deformations of calamitic, rod-like liquid crystals in the nematic phase. The corresponding elastic elasticity constants are K, (splay), /<2 (twist), and Kj (bend). K, has the largest influence on the threshold voltage, of TN cells [23f].

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