Fig. 3: Orthogonal molecular reorientation of an LC-OSC based on an orthogonally rubbed sandwich cell.

a–c POM images of different phases (N, SmA, and SmE phases) with d schematic molecular orientation images of the SmE phase before and e–h after the flipping process. The scale bar within the POM result is 400 µm. Birefringence intensity profile as a function of rotation angle between the crossed polarizers before (red line) and after (blue line) the flipping process at the (i) N, (j) SmA, and (k) SmE phases.