Crucial effects of polar alignment symmetry on the dynamical behaviors of quasi-homeotropic liquid crystal cells

Abstract

We present an interesting transient electro-optical phenomenon including double optical bounce during the rising period of a quasi-homeotropic liquid crystal (QHLC) cell with an asymmetrical polar-alignment boundary condition. The unique optical behavior of the QHLC cell is produced by the flow effect together with the complicated alignment condition of the substrates, which is a combination of the deviation of azimuthal alignment and the asymmetrical polar alignment. We have found that the symmetrical characteristic of polar alignment plays a critical role in the dynamical behavior of the QHLC cell. Furthermore, our simulation results show that the double optical-bounce phenomenon appears even when the difference between the top and bottom tilt angles is only 0.1degrees. The experimental results and numerical calculation are described in this paper.