Ferroelectric liquid crystals can be optimized for speed, but such materials tend to have small switching angles and consequently low contrast in the smectic A* phase. We describe a method whereby such a low-contrast but fast switching effect can be enhanced, in theory giving the same contrast as a material with a switching angle of 22.5 degrees. This method therefore promises liquid-crystal modulators of high contrast and with speeds of the order of hundreds of nanoseconds. The theoretical basis of this method and initial results that support this analysis are presented. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.
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