Theoretical investigation into the effects of polar anchoring in antiferroelectric liquid crystal cells

We present a theoretical investigation into the effects of polar anchoring, which induces ferroelectric ordering close to the cell surfaces, in a liqu id crystal cell containing an antiferroelectric liquid crystalline material . Our model includes effects due to finite polar and nonpolar anchoring, qu adrupolar ordering and polarization self interaction. By minimizing the fre e energy of the system, we find parameter domains in which multiple zero-vo ltage solutions are stable. We find that these solutions may undergo thresh oldless or hysteretic switching depending on the parameter values. In two i nstances, the presence of quadrupolar ordering or weak anchoring means that the cell must first be printed into the thresholdless state through a disc ontinuous transition from an initial antiferroelectric state.