Low-molar-mass thermotropic liquid crystals

Abstract

The impact of liquid crystals over the past 20 years in the area of electro-optical displays is generally acknowledged as stemming from a combination of chemistry (molecular engineering) and physics (development of practical display modes). Starting with the early experiments on dynamic scattering, a review is given of the developments in this field arising from the chemist’s ability to respond to the requirements set first for reliable materials for twisted nematic displays, later for supertwist devices and electrically addressed smectic A displays, and most recently for ferroelectric displays and the electroclinic effect. Although the driving force for such research has been the demand for materials for ever faster switching devices able to portray more complex data, the benefits of this quest for new liquid-crystal materials on basic understanding of the properties of liquid crystals and their relation to molecular structure should not be forgotten, and this aspect is firmly emphasized.