UNIFORM BOOKSHELF ALIGNMENT OF CHIRAL SMECTIC-C FILMS WITH GUIDED BACKFLOW

We describe a new technique to prepare cells of smectic C films with a uniform bookshelf texture that can be bistably switched. This is ach ieved with a homeotropic surface coating with weak anchoring propertie s. The surface of one plate was modulated by parallel stripes of a pol ymer which hinder flow perpendicular to the stripes. This gives bias t o field induced flow effects and enhances alignment by periodic switch ing. The resulting texture is uniform with smectic layers normal to th e cover plates and parallel to the deposited stripes. The stripes also help to reheal textures with defects. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.