Polymer stabilized chiral nematic liquid crystals for fast switching and high contrast electro-optic devices

A fast switching electro-optic device, based upon the in-plane addressing of very short pitch polymer stabilized chiral nematic liquid crystals, is presented. Polymer stabilization of the standing helical arrangement is essential to prevent the appearance of defects above the in-plane electrodes. Response times as short as 50 mu s are observed at room temperature along with contrast ratios greater than 3000:1 owing to the high optical extinction at visible wavelengths in the Off state. The combination of these fast response times with such high contrast ratios is of great importance for next generation electro-optical elements. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3605597]