Device including ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal-forming molecules and methods of forming and using same

Abstract

Surface polarity of a ferroelectric nematic can be configured to generate vectorial control of the orientation of its bulk polarization field. The contact between a surface with in-plane polarity and a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal generates preferred in-plane orientation of the ferroelectric polarization field at that interface, which can lead to the formation of fluid or glassy monodomains of high polarization without electric field poling. Materials surfaces can be used as a route to making planar-aligned cells with a variety of azimuthal director/polarization structures, including twisted states, in a π-twist cell, obtained with antiparallel, unidirectional buffing on opposing surfaces, we demonstrate three distinct modes of ferroelectric nematic electro-optic response: intrinsic viscosity-limited field induced molecular reorientation, field-induced motion of domain walls separating twisted states of opposite chirality; and propagation of polarization reorientation solitons from the cell plates to the cell center upon field reversal.