Dielectric relaxation process of a partially unwound helical structure in ferroelectric liquid crystals.

The fluctuations of unwound helical structure have been observed in deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (DHFLC) and conventional FLC sample cells. The helix is partially unwound by strong anchoring on the substrates. In such sample cells, the helical decarlization lines are not observed in the texture under crossed polarized microscope. The dielectric spectroscopy is employed to observe the behavior of dielectric relaxation processes in these sample cells. A dielectric relaxation process is observed at a lower frequency than the Goldstone mode processes in DHFLC and FLC, which we call partially unwound helical mode (p-UHM). However, the p-UHM process is not observed in the sample cell in which the helical lines appear. The application of various amplitudes of probing ac voltages on this mode has shown the higher frequency shift, i.e., the larger the amplitude of ac voltage, the higher is the relaxation frequency of p-UHM. At sufficient amplitude of applied probing ac voltage, the p-UHM merges with the Goldstone mode process and is difficult to detect. However, the Goldstone mode relaxation frequency is almost independent of the cell geometry and sample configuration. The electro-optical behavior of the p-UHM has also been confirmed by electro-optical technique. The dielectric relaxation of UHM at a frequency lower than the Goldstone mode is interpreted as the fluctuation of partially unwound helix.