Electro-optical response of an ionic-surfactant-doped nematic cell with homeoplanar-twisted configuration transition

This study is concerned with the optical response of an electrooptical material consisting of nematic liquid crystal as well as ionic surfactant as a dopant. The dopant is a key component to carry out the working of the resulting device through configuration switching. The operational principle is based on the surface anchoring transition induced by a steady electric field. The dynamic characteristics of the electro-optical cell can be considerably improved when the nematic layer is reoriented from the initially homeoplanar director configuration into the twisted state. Besides, a method to shorten the relaxation time is demonstrated by using a controlling pulse with a bipolar waveform.