High performance room temperature nematic liquid crystals based on laterally fluorinated isothiocyanato-tolanes

High birefringence and low viscosity isothiocyanates liquid crystal single compounds and eutectic mixtures, based solely on laterally fluorinated aromatic rigid core structures, are reported. Extraordinarily high values of figure-of-merit were observed at room temperature and also elevated temperatures for the nematic mixtures we formulated. Potential applications of such mixtures for laser beam steering at /spl lambda/=1.55 /spl mu/m using optical phased arrays are emphasized.