Abstract

Meyer et al. showed in 1975 that in certain conditions smectic c liquid crystals will be ferroelectric with a macroscopic polarization p lying in the (x, y) plane of the molecular layers. In 1980, Clark and Lagerwall demonstrated a submicrosecond liquid crystal switch by inducing ferroelectricity in 2 [cf9]m[cf341]m of LC material surface stabilized between two glass plates. This tutorial discusses the present and fundamental operating characteristics of ferroelectric LCs including response time, contrast ratio, switching energy, resolution, and size in optical interconnection, neurocomputing, switching, and displays.

© 1988 Optical Society of America