Polarization plasticity of ferroelectric nematics: A case of electrostatic frustration in simple planar electrode cells

Because of their spontaneous bulk polarization, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals can be easily brought by surface coupling or confinement in a state in which the accumulation of bound charges becomes incompatible with polar order, creating frustration. This condition also occurs in the simplest cells with parallel uncoated metal electrodes where we find that the polarization charge accumulating on the electrodes is proportional to the applied voltage for [Formula: see text], a threshold value independent of cell thickness. We show that below [Formula: see text], frustration drives the system into a regime of polarization plasticity, in which nematic ordering is preserved and the nematic director remains perpendicular to the electrodes, while instead the polarization is reduced to cancel the internal electric field. In this regime, the kinetics of bound charge reversal becomes independent from [Formula: see text]. The observations are consistent with a model in which the system splits into antipolar tubular domains of mesoscale diameter extending from electrode to electrode, in which the polarization retains its unconstrained equilibrium value, separated by pure polarization-reversal walls.