Effects of phase-separation direction of monomers on polymer wall formation and electrooptical properties of flexible smectic liquid crystal cell

We examined the effects of the phase-separation direction of monomers on the polymer wall formation and the electrooptical properties of a chiral smectic C liquid crystal. Monomers are more clearly phase-separated when polymer walls are formed in the layer normal direction rather than in the layer parallel direction. The anisotropic phase-separation property of monomers is considered to be related to the layered structure of the smectic liquid crystal. The tilt angle and contrast ratio of the cell with the layer-normal polymer walls are larger than those of the cell with the layerparallel polymer walls.