SPIRAL CHOLESTERICS - SURFACE EFFECTS

The helicoidal structure of the cholesteric phase can be untwisted by the electric field effect. We have shown that spiral-shaped structures could nucleate at the threshold of the field-induced homeotropic stat e from filaments (linked to the twisted state) embedded in a homeotrop ic pseudo-nematic matrix (untwisted cholesteric). In this article, we show that confinement and anchoring conditions influence the dynamical behavior and the existence of spiral patterns induced in cholesteric liquid crystals materials by an electric field.