Peculiarities of Light-Induced Memory in Nlcs

We report on the observation and investigation of the light-induced director reorientation due to the change in the orienting properties of the boundary surfaces of the homeotropically aligned NLCs in the samples containing pure (nondoped) nematic matrices and in the samples doped with the conformationally active azo and stilbene dyes, as well as the conformationally stable anthraquinone dyes. The specific features of the light-induced memory are established, among which an effect of light-initiated director self-reorientation--the continuation of director reorientation upon switching off theillumination--is the most interesting one.