FAST SWITCHING FERROELECTRIC SIDE-CHAIN LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYMER AND COPOLYMER

New ferroelectric side-chain liquid-crystalline polymers, a copolymer and a homopolymer, with siloxane backbone and a triaromatic mesogen as the side group have been synthesized. The materials exhibit a chiral smectic C phase over a large temperature range extending to room temperature. They possess high values of spontaneous polarization: 105 nC cm-2 for the homopolymer and 180 nC cm-2 for the copolymer. The electro-optic switching time in the chiral smectic C phase is extremely fast (150-mu-s). In the smectic A phase, an electroclinic effect with switching times less than 100-mu-s and with field induced tilt angles of 18-degrees is observed.