Time-resolved infrared spectroscopic study of the switching dynamics of a surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal.

The orientation dynamics of a ferroelectric liquid crystal with a naphthalene ring (FLC-3) during the electric-field-induced switching between two surface-stabilized states was investigated by means of time-resolved Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Time-resolved infrared spectra of the planar-aligned cell of FLC-3 were measured as a function of the polarization angle ranging from 0 degree to 180 degrees under a rectangular electric field +/-40 V with a 5-kHz repetition rate in the smectic-C* (Sm-C*) phase at 137 degrees C. From these spectra details about the mutual arrangement of different molecular segments at all the delay times in the Sm-C* phase were derived. It was found that the C=O group in the core moiety exhibits a dynamical behavior different from that in the chiral moiety during the electric-field-induced switching between the two surface-stabilized states. The most important finding in the present study is that during the electric-field-induced switching the FLC molecule not only rotates around the layer normal, but also revolves around its own long axis. Furthermore, time-resolved infrared spectroscopy revealed that each group in the core moiety passes almost simultaneously through the projection of the layer normal in the cell window during the dynamic switching.