A highly bistable fast-shear aligned polymer dispersed ferroelectric liquid crystal device

We present a new shear aligned polymer dispersed ferroelectric liquid crystal material which in this configuration possesses the same electro-optical characteristics as conventional surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals. The sample thickness is 20 μm as opposed to the 1-2 μm used in the normal surface stabilized geometry. The new material shows switching on the 100 μs timescale and very high bistability (G ≥ 0.8) minutes after removal of the field. The temperature independent apparent tilt angle is 25° at room temperature, almost equal to the ideal value of 22.5° for many display applications. The material is prepared from a solution of a novel low molar mass organosiloxane ferroelectric liquid crystal in a UV-curable polymer. We study the physical properties of the composite material and give a description of the fabrication technique and its optimization. The material and fabrication technique could be readily used for industrial production of devices including flexible display panels.