Electrically-induced optical storage effects in smectic polysiloxanes A variable transmission device

Changes in the optical transmission induced by electric fields have been studied in a smectic side-chain polysiloxane liquid crystal. The transmission varied from effectively zero, for a highly scattering (opaque) texture, to total, for a homeotropic texture, on increasing the applied voltage across the material. The field-induced textures were durably stored in the smectic phase, enabling the order parameter of the side groups to be studied by dielectric relaxation measurements. For the highly transparent texture, a side group order parameter of 0-92 has been observed.