Flexoelectrically Driven Instabilities in Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Flexoelectricity is an important mechanoelectric property of liquid crystals that provides a reciprocal, linear relation between curvature distortions and electric polarization. We review here a few of the less known electric field generated flexoelectric effects observed in recent years and relating to (a) dc field excited flexo-response at defect sites in nematic inversion walls, (b) gradient flexoelectric switching at polarity reversals in nematics, (c) flexoelectrically driven phase propagation in the undulatory structure of the smectic C phase and (d) asymmetric distortion in sheared annular walls in free-standing nematic films.