C-V hysteresis observed in a splay-bend transition: a novel method for theevaluation of a transition speed

The director distributions in thin nematic slabs with parallel structure ha ve been calculated as a function of the applied electric field. They are di fferent from the cells with the anti-parallel structure, in that three solu tions exist in a specified voltage range which predict a transition of the director deformation from splay to bend configurations in the parallel stru cture. This splay-bend transition has been confirmed experimentally by a ca pacitance-voltage (C-V) hysteresis method. The C-V characteristics showed a hysteresis around the deformation transition and this magnitude correspond ed to the facility of a splay-bend transition: a comparison of these hyster esis characteristics for different materials enables us to evaluate the spl ay-bend transition speed easily.