Double minimum in the surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal switching response

A double minimum has recently been observed in the time-voltage switching response for a smectic C-* liquid crystal layer in the surface stabilized geometry ("Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Device," K. P. Lymer and J. C. Jones, U.K. Patent No. GB2338797, 17th June 1999). Liquid crystal continuum theory is used to demonstrate that this unusual switching behavior arises if the equilibrium orientation of the molecular director rotates around the smectic cone as a function of distance through one half of the layer only. The double minimum is shown to evolve for large differences between the epsilon(2) and epsilon(1) components of the smectic C biaxial permittivity tensor. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.