Electric field and thickness effect on the electroclinic temporal behavior in a chiral smectic-Aliquid crystal

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Abstract
We measured the temporal behavior of the electroclinic effect in a chiral smectic-A liquid crystal by monitoring the optical response to a voltage pulse. A simple formula was shown to describe the time behavior of the induced tilt angle Θ. The electroclinic response time τ increased for decreasing values of the applied electric field E and the cell gap d. The static value of Θ did not depend on d and remained linear in E. We conclude that bulk interactions determine the equilibrium value of Θ. The increase of τ is attributed to a hindrance by the boundaries of the switching along the entire thickness of the cell.