Suppression of Surface Domains in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals by Dye Dispersion

TLDR: In this article, the effect of dye dispersion on the surface domain formation at the interface of alignment layer and ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules has been studied, showing that the suppression of these surface domains are beneficial from the application point of view, as these domains are responsible for the scattering of light and suppressing of these domains will increase the contrast and brightness of the display.

Abstract: The effect of dye dispersion on the surface domain formation at the interface of alignment layer and ferroelectric liquid crystal molecules has been studied. The observed dielectric data clearly shows the existence of two relaxation modes in ferroelectric liquid crystal. The relaxation, which shows its contribution in KHz region, takes place due to the formation of domains at surface interface. In both the cases i.e. dye dispersion in Felix17/100 and in DOBAMBC, relaxation strength decreases with dispersion of dye, indicating the suppression of domains. Relaxation frequency in case of Felix 17/100 decreases while it increases for DOBAMBC with the dispersion of dye. The suppression of these surface domains are beneficial from the application point of view, as these domains are responsible for the scattering of light and suppression of these domains will increase the contrast and brightness of the display.