Electro-optic properties of polymer-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystals before, during and after photo-polymerization

The electro-optic behaviour of polymer-stabilized polar smectic liquid crystals is studied in detail before and after photo-polymerization of a bifunctional monomer in the fluid SmA* and SmC* phases. We investigate the effect of a stabilizing, phase-separated polymer network on the electro-optic performance of smectic liquid crystals in relation to the electroclinic as well as the ferroelectric electro-optic effects. For the first time we also report time-dependent data obtained during the polymerization process, which allow the study of the dynamics of photo-polymerization in a liquid crystal host and provide evidence for how this polymerization process is accomplished and why the favourable electro-optic properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals are retained in polymer-stabilized FLCs.