Electro-optic modes of ferroelectric liquid crystals and their applications

The ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) which has the advantage of a fast response under a low electric field has become one of the most promising candidates of the next generation liquid crystal display (LCD) as well as photonic devices. Three electrooptic modes including surface stabilized FLC (SSFLC), deformed helix ferroelectric (DHF) mode, and electrically suppressed helix (ESH) mode are reviewed with the corresponding electrooptic effects like bi-and multi-stable switching, continuous modulation of grayscale or phase, and high contrast switching. Moreover, the photo-aligning technique is in high demand compared with the traditional rubbing method for FLC devices, since photo-aligning is a non-contact process, which avoids static charges, particles, and contacting damages. With the advantages of controllable anchoring energy, the photoalignment provides FLC samples with uniform alignment and high contrast ratio. The fast FLCs with a high resolution and high contrast can be applied in the next generation display including field sequential color FLC micro-displays as well as switchable 2D/3D televisions.