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Abylgazy S. Abdullaev¹*, Mikhail N. Krakhalev^1,2, Victor Ya. Zyryanov¹

Author affiliations
¹Kirensky Institute of Physics, Federal Research Center KSC SB RAS, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
²Institute of Engineering Physics and Radio Electronics, Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
*Corresponding author: aabdullaev@iph.krasn.ru

Abstract
The photo-induced change in the orientation structure of the chiral nematic based on LN-396 doped with chiral dopants S811 and cChD has been investigated. It is shown that the use of planar-conical boundary conditions makes it possible to realise a smooth variation of the structure twist angle by changing the helix pitch. It is shown that the twisting of the structure of the studied chiral nematic to an angle of more than 240° leads to undulations when the conical anchoring is specified by the PiBMA polymer. The PtBMA polymer, on the other hand, specifies tangential boundary conditions for the chiral nematic under study, allowing the director to rotate easily in the plane of the sample. The results presented may be promising for the development of liquid crystal systems with finely tunable polar and azimuthal angles of the director.

Keywords: chiral nematic, photosensitive chiral dopant, conical boundary conditions, orientational structure, smooth variation of the structure twist angle