The Propagation of disclinations in bistable switching

Abstract

The boundary-layer model is used to calculate the energy density of the forces that govern the movement-of-strength 1/2 disclinations in a bistable tilted liquid-crystal geometry during switching. The distortions of the bistable states and the disclinations separating them are studied. The mobility is calculated for vertical and transverse applied fields and compared with experimental data, showing good agreement especially at high fields. Implications about a switching mechanism are discussed.