The influence of fluorosurfactants on the flexoelectro-optic properties of a chiral nematic liquid crystal

In this paper, we demonstrate an increase in the flexoelectro-optic response of a hypertwisted chiral nematic liquid crystal with the addition of a low concentration (0.7 wt %) of a fluorosurfactant so as to reduce the anchoring energy at the liquid crystal/substrate boundary. Specifically, the results show that the tilt angle per unit of applied electric field is increased by approximately 20% whereas the response time is decreased by approximately 30%. An increase in the concentration of the fluorosurfactant agent does not appear to greatly affect the magnitude of the tilt angle for a given field strength but does result in a further reduction of the response time. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.