LAYER STRUCTURE AND ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES OF STRIPE-SHAPED DOMAINS OBSERVED IN THE INITIAL ALIGNMENT STATE OF SURFACE-STABILIZED FERROELECTRIC LIQUID-CRYSTAL CELLS

Zig zag defects in a Surface-Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal ( SSFLC) are clearly explained using a chevron layer structure model pro posed by Clark et al.1) However, stripe-shaped alignment defects obser ved in the initial alignment state are not yet fully understood. We ha ve proposed a model based on Clark's theory to explain stripe-shaped d efects. We confirmed their validity by X-ray diffraction and optical m easurements. Furthermore we showed that the measured polarization swit ching current and the average spontaneous polarization in a SSFLC with stripe-shaped defects are consistent with our theory.