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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Three-level phase modulator based on orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals
David Engström1, Per Rudquist, Jörgen Bengtsson
1Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Photonics Laboratory, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden. david.engstrom@mc2.chalmers.se
Abstract:
Surface-stabilized orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals (OAFLCs) have a director tilt of theta = 45 degrees and are, with no field applied, negatively uniaxial with the optic axis perpendicular to the cell substrates. We demonstrate that OAFLCs can be utilized to achieve lossless phase modulation with three almost equidistant phase levels. This turns out to be true also for polymer-stabilized OAFLCs, where the polymer network increases the switching speed of the device without affecting the phase modulation appreciably.
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