Vertical field switching for blue-phase liquid crystal devices

A low-voltage (< 10 V), high-transmittance (> 80%), submillisecond-response, and hysteresis-free polymer-stabilized blue-phase liquid crystal (BPLC) device with vertical field switching (VFS) and oblique incident light are demonstrated experimentally. Unlike the commonly employed in-plane switching in which the electric field is primarily in lateral direction and not uniform spatially, the VFS mode has uniform longitudinal field. As a result, the operating voltage is reduced by similar to 3.2 x which in turn helps to eliminate hysteresis. The VFS mode is a promising candidate for the emerging BPLC display and photonic devices. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3604011]