A Method for Computing the Optical Properties of a Smectic C∗ Liquid Crystal Cell with a Chevron Layer Structure

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Abstract
In this paper a model developed previously for computing the director orientation in a cell containing chiral smectic C liquid crystal (SmC∗ LC) is extended to include a chevron layer structure in the relaxed (zero voltage) state. Results of the director orientation calculations are presented and used in a formalism developed elsewhere to compute the transmittance of a 7 μm thick cell for different azimuthal orientations of the cell between crossed polarisers. It is shown that the theoretical and measured orientations which give minimum transmittance are in good agreement over the entire voltage range considered (0–20 V). The computed average director tilt angle is found to be consistent with conoscopic measurements performed with a polarising microscope. Finally, on the basis of the computed director orientations, an explanation is given of why the zero-voltage minimum transmission orientation angle is so much smaller in thick (∼7 μm) SmC∗ LC cells than it is in thin (∼2 μm) cells.