Asymmetric Freedericksz transitions from symmetric liquid crystal cells doped with harvested ferroelectric nanoparticles.
The electrical Freedericksz transition characteristics of planar aligned liquid crystal cells doped with harvested single ferroelectric domain 9 nm nanoparticles of BaTiO(3) have been measured. We demonstrate for the first time that the electrical pre-history of the cells imparts significant polarity sensitivity to the Freedericksz characteristics. The presence of harvested single domain ferroelectric nanoparticles enables cells to be programmably semi-permanently polarized. This reduces or increases the Freedericksz transition threshold by 0.8 V, depending on the polarity of the applied voltage, giving a net 1.6 V Freedericksz threshold asymmetry for 8 mum thick cells filled with TL205 liquid crystal.
Cook
G
G
Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA.
Reshetnyak
V Yu
VY
Ziolo
R F
RF
Basun
S A
SA
Banerjee
P P
PP
Evans
D R
DR
D004560:Electricity; D008027:Light; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation