The dependence of the magnitude of the spontaneous polarization on the cell thickness in ferroelectric liquid crystals

✍ Scribed by J.S. Patel; J.W. Goodby

• Book ID: 103025977
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 403 KB
• Volume: 137
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(87)80310-x

✦ Synopsis

The magnitude of the spontaneous polarization (P) was measured for S-3,7-dimethyloctyl 4-n-hexadecyloxybenzoyloxybenzoate, a material with an isotropic to smectic C* phase transition ( Tc), using a triangular wave method. The temperature dependence of the measured values was well represented by the expression P=PO( T,-T)*. PO was found to depend on the cell thickness for thicknesses below 18 urn, but saturated to a constant value above this limit. The value of the exponent LX, on the other hand, was found to be insensitive to the cell thickness. The decreased value of the polarization in the thin cells is thought to be a result of polarization screening due to ionic impurities.