Helix unwinding of doped cholesteric liquid crystals

By introducing benzoyl-benzene into a cholesteric liquid crystal, the helix unwinding voltage was reduced. This reduction was roughly proportional to the concentration of the dopant and was present for driving frequencies acr oss the audio spectrum. It is believed that this voltage reduction is prima rily due to a perturbation of the intermolecular coupling in the liquid cry stal mixture. It was found that so long as the long-range order was not des troyed, the helix unwinding voltage could be reduced by as much as 24% at 6 0 Hz. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.