Material Properties of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals and Their Relevance for Applications and Devices

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Abstract
Recent developments in understanding structural and material properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals are reviewed with emphasis on their relevance for electro-optic effects and device applications. In only a few years the material situation has changed from one characterized by an almost complete lack of technically useful materials to one, not yet adapted to technical needs, but beginning to offer interesting, commercially available ferroelectric mixtures. The present device limitations can, however, be tracked down, not so much to the principal non-availability of materials as to the lack of understanding of which material properties are desirable and needed, in particular to permit simple and efficient matrix addressing. Thus we have centered our discussion to properties of prime importance for device dynamics in this review, which also contains a general discussion of material properties based on the molecular structure, as well as an assessment of the present industrial development.