Electrically Switchable Multi-Stable Topological States Enabled by Surface-Induced Frustration in Nematic Liquid Crystal Cells

In liquid crystal (LC) cells, the surface patterning directs the self-assembly of the uniaxial building blocks in the bulk, enabling the design of stimuli-response optical devices with various functionalities. The combination of different anchoring patterns at both substrates can lead to surface induced frustration, preventing a purely planar and defect-free configuration. In cells with crossed assembly of rotating anchoring patterns, elastic deformations allow to obtain a defect-free bulk configuration, but an electrical stimulus can induce disclination lines. The disclination network is preserved without applied voltage. Depending on the electric field treatment and geometrical parameters, different multi-stable states with and without disclinations are obtained. This is demonstrated with the help of dual-frequency LCs, for which the frequency dependent dielectric properties allow repeatable switching between multi-stable states. Topological protection and the associated energy barrier between different states explains the observed metastability. The obtained configurations are retrieved with Q-tensor simulations and the validity is confirmed by matching optical simulations with experimentally obtained microscopy images. The realized multi-stable topological states interact differently with light, resulting in distinct optical properties. Optimization allows to switch between a highly transparent state and an opaque state, opening up opportunities for smart windows with low energy consumption.