Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal Films with Memory Characteristics

Abstract

Polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) films with memory electrooptical characteristics were fabricated. The approach made use of phase transition characteristics of smectic liquid crystals. If a smectic is cooled from the nematic to the smectic state in the presence of an electric field, one obtains an aligned smectic. This structure yields a transparent state. However, if the material is cooled in the absence of the field, it adopts a focal conic texture which yields a light-scattering state. The fabrication of these devices, together with their measured electrooptical characteristics, is reported.