Charge-controlled phenomena in the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid-crystal structure

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Abstract
An important characteristic of the surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid-crystal (SSFLC) effect is charge compensation. Investigations on SSFLC samples, which were electrically isolated after applying a voltage, showed that this voltage drops during the switching as a result of the compensation of the surface polarization caused by the rotation of the permanent dipoles. The final optical state depends exclusively on the initial conditions. Optically it can be observed that domains come into being, grow and stabilize, resulting into a certain distribution of black and white areas. Consequently, the bistable SSFLC effect can be used for a controllable continuous grayshading between black and white.