The states of surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal with high-pretilt aligning film

Surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal with high-pretilt (about 15°) aligning film rubbed in parallel showed three types of states: C1-uniform (C1U), C1-twisted (C1T), and C2 states. In the C1 state, the uniform state (C1U) showing extinction positions and the twisted state (C1T) showing no extinction position were observed. On the other hand, the C2 state showed only one state showing extinction positions. The properties of these three states were investigated and their orientational model will be discussed in combination with the molecular orientation on the surface of the aligning film.