Effect of alignment layer conductivity on the bistability of surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid-crystal devices

Recent experimental results indicate that bistability is difficult to achieve in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid-crystal devices with high spontaneous polarization (Ps) materials. We formulated the basic equations to analyze the bistability as a function of the conductivity and thickness of the alignment layers using Ps as a parameter. It is found that a threshold value of the conductivity, which approximately scales with both the thickness and Ps, exists to achieve good bistability. Numerical results are given to provide important guidances for choosing the alignment layer materials to obtain excellent bistability using high Ps materials.