Universal property of domain reversal-process in ferroelectric liquid crystal 8si

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Abstract
The universality of the domain reversal process is examined by the measurement of the light transmittance I(t) which is proportional to the reversed area, when the electric field is applied in step-like fashion on the smectic × phase. The universal relation can be clearly observed independently of the applied field normalized by a certain characteristic time. The result shows that the nucleation and growth process is two dimensional assuming the early-stage nucleation and the constant growth velocity v. The nucleation rate and v however experimentally depend on time, and v is a quasi-two dimensional which becomes alternatively slow and rapid with time. This suggests more complicated kinetics for the reversal process. The memory due to surface pinning is also observed for which qualitative explanation is given.