Alignment of cholesteric liquid crystals using the macroscopic flexoelectric polarization contribution to dielectric properties

By considering the contribution of flexoelectricity to a cholesteric liquid crystal's dielectric permittivity, we show that both flexoelectric and dielectric effects allow the alignment of the Uniform Lying Helix (ULH) in devices with in-plane-switching (IPS) electrodes. The non-uniformity of fields produced by IPS electrodes is found to be crucial to allow ULH formation. The ULH is stabilised using homeotropic alignment conditions without polymer networks. Thus, a framework has been developed and tested for aligning and making stable cholesteric liquid crystals that incorporates both flexoelectric and dielectric field effects. Applications include bistable and ultra-fast display technology.