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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Zenithal gliding of the easy axis of a nematic liquid crystal
Stéphane Joly1, Krassimira Antonova, Philippe Martinot-Lagarde
1Nemoptic, 1 rue Guynemer, 78114 Magny les Hameaux, France.
Abstract:
We present experimental evidence of zenithal gliding of the nematic easy axis on a polyimide surface. The reorientation dynamics of the easy axis under external torque, and its relaxation, are extremely slow processes which cannot be described by a single exponential time. They show similarities with aging phenomena previously encountered in glassy systems. At last, the adsorption-desorption-readsorption process which empirically justifies the azimuthal easy axis gliding may also explain our observations.
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