Flexoelectro-optic effect in a hybrid nematic liquid crystal cell

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Abstract
W e analyse the influence of charged impurities and flexoelectric polarization on the optical transmission of a hybrid aligned nematic liquid crystal cell. The theoretical results obtained within the framework of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and Frank elastic theory are compared with the observed optical response [N. V. Madhusudana and G. Durand,J. Phys.Lett. 46, L-195 (1985)]. We show that impurities can be very important for the behaviour of the system in the low field regime where the flexoelectric effect is relevant, and we determine the flexoelectric coefficient, the anchoring strength, and the concentration of impurities in the sample previously studied by Madhusudana and Durand.