Ferroelectric ordering and electroclinic effect in chiral smectic liquid crystals

The linear electro-optic (EO) and second harmonic generation (SHG) techniques were used to study the ferroelectric and electroclinic effect in chiral smectic liquid crystals. The azimuthal dependences of linear and nonlinear responses were measured to detect the ferroelectric switching in biased ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) cells. The FLC symmetry axis was rotated by the applied dc electric field with initial and final orientations in the cell plane. The results by the analysis of SHG temperature dependences shows the existence of a strong surface coupling.