Giant elastic strength and perfect ultrafast switching in NLC gels

(a) Thermal dependence of bend elastic constant (K3)showing 2 orders magnitude enhancement in the gel state compared to sol (b) Backflow free switching in Gel (c) Reduced switching time in Gel

The NLC gels exhibit an anomalously large stability (two orders of magnitude) against bend deformations compared to their non-gel counterparts. This phenomenon arises due to the smectic- like ordering induced in the system by gelation also the enhanced mechanical strength rendered by the gel network.

Also the electro-optic response becomes faster with no degradation in the contrast ratio for the gel state compared to the pure NLC. Another attractive feature is the removal of the undesirable ‘optical bounce’ or ‘back flow’ effect in the gel. See J. Appl, Phys. 109, 083537(1-7) (2011)

Posted by Geetha Nair