Electrically controlled surface bistability in nematic liquid crystals

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Abstract
The use of obliquely SiO evaporated glass plates at grazing incidence and controlled thickness gives a surface twofold degenerate oblique orientation for the nematic liquid‐crystal MBBA (p‐methoxy‐benzylidine‐p‐n‐butyl‐aniline). Using a horizontal electric field and the linear flexoelectric coupling, one can switch the surface state from the first orientation to the other one, above a threshold value for the electric field. This represents the first example of an electrically controlled surface bistability in nematic liquid crystals.