Concentration dependence of phase retardation and optical response of stressed liquid crystal systems based on nematic liquid crystal pentyl-cyanobiphenyl

In this work we have explored the effect of the polymer concentration and the shear magnitude on the switching characteristics of a stressed liquid crystal cell comprised of a LC oriented by polymer network. The possibilities of ultra-fast switching of the cells upon removal of an electric field were experimentally demonstrated. We achieved the dark state for 11 μm cell in <1 ms. This promises great potential for application in fast optical elements based on liquid crystals.