Switching Behaviour of a Thermochromic Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal with High Spontaneous Polarization

The switching processes of a planar aligned thermochromic Sc* liquid crystal sample were investigated. Depending on the applied voltages, between the rest unwound states, the following structures can be distinguished. At low voltages—the director field is continuously deformed; at a threshold voltage Ui—an irregular stripe system appeared; at a higher threshold voltage U II (and only if > 70Hz)—a regular stripe system existed. The detailed experimental results regarding these structures, and a phenome-nological explanation are presented here.