The pretransitional effect and helix unwinding process in homogeneously aligned antiferroelectric liquid crystals

Tristable switching and two distinct relaxation processes in the pretransitional regime in homogeneously aligned antiferroelectric liquid crystals were examined in a coupled double helix model which includes double helices and nearest neighbor interactions of molecular dipole moments. It is suggested that the pretransitional effect can be suppressed by a large negative dielectric anisotropy.