Giant flexoelectro-optic effect with liquid crystal dimer CB7CB

Abstract

We demonstrate a giant flexoelectro-optic behavior of liquid crystal dimer CB7CB. Flexoelectric properties of CB7CB experimentally characterized by measured angle of an in-plane rotation of helical axis (HA) in polymer stabilized uniform lying helix cholesteric liquid crystal. The 45° rotation of HA providing full intensity modulation of transmitted through a pair of crossed polarizers light, is achieved with 4.5 V/μm with a sub-millisecond electro-optic switching time. Reported properties enable application of CB7CB in applications of the flexoelectric effect in fast switching photonic and electro-optic devices.