Influential electro-optical and textural properties in the smectic C* phase have been observed using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs). An application of mere 0.1V brings fivefold increase in optical tilt and doping creates a strong intrinsic field inside the sample generating high tilt and a reproducible observation of memory effect. The lowering of threshold voltage and the enhanced optical contrast is probably due to the interaction of electron wave oscillation in Au NPs with the incident light traversing through the FLC molecules.

We present the advancement in the research of the dispersion of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in thermotropic calamitic liquid crystals. The formation/behavior of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in GNPs is briefly described. The uniform dispersion of GNPs into liquid crystals along with two important aspects, i.e. tuning of GNP properties by liquid crystal and vice versa, are widely discussed. Overall, the article highlights the advances in the research into GNP-liquid crystal composites in terms of their scientific and technological aspects.

We report the characterization and photoluminescence ͑PL͒ of newly synthesized deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal ͑DHFLC͒ material having short pitch and high spontaneous polarization. We observed ninefold enhancement in PL intensity in gold nanoparticles doped DHFLC material. This enhancement in the PL intensity has been attributed to the coupling of localized surface plasmon resonance from metal nanoparticles with DHFLC molecules, resulting in the increase in excitation and emission rate of the liquid crystal molecules in the localized electromagnetic field. These studies would provide a cutting edge tool in the realization of enhanced photoluminescent liquid crystal display devices.