Electrically induced reorientation of nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules caused by dielectric anisotropy of the material is a fundamental phenomenon widely used in modern technologies. Its Achilles heel is a slow (millisecond) relaxation from the field-on to the field-off state. We present an electro-optic effect in an NLC with a response time of about 30 ns to both the field-on and field-off switching. This effect is caused by the electric field induced modification of the order parameters (EMOP) and does not require reorientation of the optic axis (director).
@article{arxiv.1307.8193,
title = {Nanosecond electro-optic switching of a liquid crystal},
author = {Volodymyr Borshch and Sergij V. Shiyanovskii and Oleg D. Lavrentovich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1307.8193},
year = {2014}
}