Light-induced reorientation of a smectic liquid crystal with memory
Zolot'ko A. S. , Kitaeva V. F.
Experiments reveal that linearly polarized light (at Я = 6471 A) can convert the homeotropic texture of the smectic phase of the liquid crystal OCBP with an impurity of the azo compound methyl red into a stable confocal texture (this is a memory effect). In the latter texture, there is a predominant orientation of the confocal domains in the direction perpendicular to the electric field of the light wave.