Influence of cylindrical geometry and alignment layers on growth process and selective reflection of blue phase domains

Abstract

In this work the influence of cylindrical shape and alignment layers on light reflection in Blue Phase Liquid Crystal (BPLC) is presented. For the first time, the process of BP domains growth in a capillary is presented. The cylindrical structure, its diameter and alignment layers change the orientations of cubic blue phase (BP) domains and affect their growth. By using temperature and external electric field the uniform structure was obtained. In this study the ability of switching between BP I and chiral phase in a capillary is also shown.