Structural transformation and field lines in thin liquid crystal cells with chevron layer structures

摘要

We study the arrangement of liquid crystal (LC) director near the LC-substrate interface of a surface stabilized liquid crystal cell during the smectic A to smectic C phase transition. We find that if the director has a pretilt at the interface, there exists strain in smectic layers near the interface and the director tends to tilt away from the easy axis produced by rubbing. These two effects can lead to a smectic layer structural transformation in the smectic C phase that has been termed the C1 to C2 transition for surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals, and we find that C1 and C2 respond differently to an external electric field.