SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS IN ANTIFERROELECTRIC LIQUID-CRYSTALS UNDER APPLICATION OF BIPOLAR PULSE VOLTAGE

The electrooptical responses of antiferroelectric liquid crystals (AFL Cs) under bipolar pulse voltages for the ariving scheme actually used in practice have been investigated. The samples used were ycarbonyl)ph enyl-4'-octyloxybiphenyl-4-carboxylate (TFMHPOBC) and its homologues. It was found that the V(applied voltage)-T (transmittance) characteris tics were affected by the chemical structures such as the type of chir al radical and the length of the alkyl chain. The V-T curves at low te mperatures showed an anomalous behavior, i.e., in addition to the usua l increase of the transmittance in the low voltage region the transmit tance has a maximum and a minimum in the high voltage region.