Advanced Materials, Vol.17, No.1, 96-96, 2005
Large electro-optic Kerr effect in polymer-stabilized liquid-crystalline blue phases
A polymer-stabilized liquid-crystal blue phase with a Kerr constant 170 times larger than that of nitrobenzene is shown to be capable of microsecond electro-optical switching over a wide temperature range in flat Kerr cells, without need for additional surface processing to generate alignment. The Figure shows a polarizing optical micropraph, under crossed polarizers, of an in-plane switched Kerr cell containing the polymer-stabilized blue phase.