Study of relaxations in cholesteric liquid crystals after reduction of an electric field

It is well known that, upon reduction of an applied electric field, cholesteric systems transform to their equilibrium state through a 'transient planar' state. However, the detailed description of this transformation, as a function of bias voltage, has not been known. In this paper we study a cholesteric sample having a thickness of 15 mum and a pitch of 5.36 mum using both experimental and numerical simulation. We show the details of the director field dynamics as these systems transform from the high field homeotropic state to the equilibrium state, as a function of voltage. From this understanding we will suggest improvements for increasing the speed of these transitions.