Electro-optic response of a spontaneously twisted ferroelectric nematic structure in an anti-parallel rubbed cell*

The recently described ferroelectric nematic (N_F) phase [1] offers a variety of opportunities for novel electro-optic devices and effects. Its significant spontaneous polarization, as large as 6 µC/cm², enables field-induced nematic director reorientation in applied fields as small as ~1 V/cm. Here we report an N_F twist structure with two possible chiralities stabilized by polar anchoring at the cell surfaces that forms spontaneously in anti-parallel rubbed cells. The cells exhibit a polar electro-optic response, with applied voltage selecting between two twist states of the director field with opposite handedness. The director reorientation dynamics have been modeled using numerical simulations and the electrooptic response computed using Jones Matrix and Berreman formalism.
[1] “First-Principles Demonstration of Ferroelectricity in a Thermotropic Nematic Liquid Crystal: Spontaneous Polar Domain Formation and Spectacular Electro-Optics”, X. Chen et al. PNAS 2020.
* Author for Correspondence: noel.clark@colorado.edu