Fast bistable switching of a chiral-nematic liquid crystal cell induced by applying an in-plane electric field

We propose a method for fast bistable switching of chiral-nematic liquid crystals. Fast switching from the focal conic to the planar state can be achieved by applying an in-plane electric field for a short period of time. The in-plane field induces a transient state, which relaxes rapidly to the initial planar state. We demonstrate that the switching time from the focal conic to the planar state could be reduced from 150 to 5 ms by applying an in-plane field instead of a vertical field. We achieved a total response time of less than 10 ms. The proposed device is applicable to a reflective display and to other optical switching devices requiring both fast response time and low power consumption.