An observation of crystal growth of blue phase liquid crystals under an applied electric field

• Main Authors: Chen, Hung-Yuan, 陳宏源
• Other Authors: Lin, Yi-Hsin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/50304531004703478340

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 顯示科技研究所 === 100 === The mechanism of the crystal growth of blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs) and how to control the crystal growth are important. In this thesis, we start from the observation of the transition of the morphologies of BPLCs under an applied electric field and then we are able to control the domain size and the uniformity of BPLCs. We also propose the mechanism of the crystal growth of BPLCs under an applied electric field. When the voltage is on, the structure of BPLCs transits the blue phase to the cholesteric phase. Then when the voltage is off, the crystal plane of [220] satisfying minimum surface free energy grows rapidly and then the domain size enlarges. Meanwhile, the other orientations of BPLCs are suppressed. As the voltage is on and off several times, the domain size and the uniformity of the crystal plane of [220] are increased. This study opens a new window for BPLC-based photonic devices.