NOVEL FERROELECTRIC MIXTURES FOR FAST SWITCHING DEVICES

A new series of ferroelectric mixtures has been prepared, and are repo rted in terms of their transition temperatures, spontaneous polarisati on (Ps) and tilt angle (theta) as function of temperature, and switchi ng time and contrast ratio as a function of applied field. The achiral host mixtures utilised for these studies are based on known and novel systems, incorporating difluoroterphenyl compounds((1)) which exhibit high levels of dielectric biaxiality((2)) and low viscosity. The maxi mum value of P-S recorded was >20 nC cm(-2), with contrast ratios of > 200:1, switching time of <0.04 ms and tilt angles >25 degrees.