LIGHT-INDUCED REORIENTATION OF A SMECTIC LIQUID-CRYSTAL WITH MEMORY

Experiments reveal that linearly polarized light (at lambda=6471 Angst rom) can convert the homeotropic texture of the smectic phase of the l iquid crystal OCBP with an impurity of the azo compound methyl red int o a stable confocal texture (this is a memory effect). In the latter t exture, there is a predominant orientation of the confocal domains in the direction perpendicular to the electric field of the light wave.