Abstract
Ferroelectric liquid crystals can be optimized for speed, but such materials tend to have small switching angles and consequently low contrast in the smectic phase. We describe a method whereby such a low-contrast but fast-switching effect can be enhanced, in theory giving the same contrast as a material with a switching angle of 22.5°. This method therefore promises liquid-crystal modulators of high contrast and with speeds of the order of hundreds of nanoseconds. The theoretical basis of this method and initial results that support this analysis are presented.
© 1997 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Benjamin B. Dingel, Masayuki Izutsu, and Koji Murakawa
Opt. Lett. 22(19) 1449-1451 (1997)
Gonzalo Páez and Marija Strojnik
Opt. Lett. 22(22) 1669-1671 (1997)
M. Brunel, F. Bretenaker, and A. Le Floch
Opt. Lett. 22(6) 384-386 (1997)