Delay effect of switch-on in a supertwisted nematic cell

By using a convergent beam system and the fully leaky guided mode technique the switch-on dynamics of an 180° supertwisted nematic have been studied. Using the Ericksen–Leslie theory and analyzing the guided mode data taken from the cell, the director structure in the cell at different times during switch-on is obtained. For three different applied voltages it is found that the switch-on time is strongly dependent on the applied field—the higher voltage corresponds to faster switching, with no evidence of backflow. A delay at the beginning of the switch-on process has been found and explored for different applied fields. This leads to a suggestion for increasing the switch-on speed of such devices by 25%.