Observation and Investigation of the Ferrielectric Subphase with High qT Parameter.

Dielectric relaxation processes in an antiferroelectric liquid crystal ~AFLC! have been investigated over a wide range of frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 GHz. The AFLC under investigation possesses a variety of different ferrielectric, ferroelectric, and antiferroelectric phases. Dielectric and polarization measurements under direct bias voltage have been made with a view to clarifying the origin of the high-temperature ferrielectric phase, which appears between the AF and smectic-C* phases. This phase is assigned to an unstable ferrielectric phase with qT parameter greater than 1/2 ~according to the Ising model! or a doubly modulated incommensurate phase ~according to the expanded Landau model!. The results are also supported by conoscopy

Observation and Investigation of the Ferrielectric Subphase With High qT Parameter

Dielectric relaxation processes in an antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) have been investigated over a wide range of frequencies from 1 Hz to 1 GHz. The AFLC under investigation possesses a variety of different ferrielectric, ferroelectric, and antiferroelectric phases. Dielectric and polarization measurements under direct bias voltage have been made with a view to clarifying the origin of the high-temperature ferrielectric phase, which appears between the AF and smectic-C phases. This phase is assigned to an unstable ferrielectric phase with qT parameter greater than 1/2 (according to the Ising model) or a doubly modulated incommensurate phase (according to the expanded Landau model). The results are also supported by conoscopy

A Study of Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystals Using the Pyroelectric Technique

Antiferroelectric liquid crystals are studied using the pyroelecmc technique. The effects of temperature and applied voltage on the pyroelectric signal are examined. The pyroelecmc signal can detect phase changes that occur due to temperature and bias voltage. A high temperature femelecmc phase FiLC is found and the stability of this phase under different bias voltages is examine

Observation of the Smectic C -- Smectic I Critical Point

We report the first observation of the smectic C--smectic I (C--I) critical point by Xray diffraction studies on a binary system. This is in confirmity with the theoretical idea of Nelson and Halperin that coupling to the molecular tilt should induce hexatic order even in the C phase and as such both C and I (a tilted hexatic phase) should have the same symmetry. The results provide evidence in support of the recent theory of Defontaines and Prost proposing a new universality class for critical points in layered systems.Comment: 9 pages Latex and 5 postscript figures available from [email protected] on request, Phys.Rev.Lett. (in press

Unusual electric-field-induced transformations in the dark conglomerate phase of a bent-core liquid crystal

Unusual behaviour of the dark conglomerate (DC) phase seen in an oxadiazole-based achiral bent-core liquid crystal, which has not previously been reported for the DC phase of other liquid crystals, is described. Under polarising optical microscopy, we see no domains of opposite handedness in the ground state of the DC phase. However, it shows unusual transformations when an electric field is applied to the system. On increasing the electric field, at first the domains of opposite handedness become visible and then they grow in size and slowly the sample transforms to a monochiral or single-handed form which is followed by a nonchiral state at very high fields. The threshold electric fields required to achieve these changes are temperature dependent and the transformations are seen irrespective of the frequency of the applied electric field (100 Hz to 5 kHz), type of the waveform (sine, square and triangular) and the thickness (1.5 μm to 15 μm) or the geometry (planar and twisted) of the device used. Further, there is no field-induced high birefringence texture observed even though sufficiently large electric field (~22 V/μm) has been applied across the devices. The nature of the behaviour is investigated by various techniques such as optical microscopy, conoscopy, circular dichroic and Raman spectroscopies, electro-optics and dielectric spectroscopy. The possible physical phenomena behind these changes are discussed in detail

Tilt order parameters, polarity and inversion phenomena in smectic liquid crystals

The order parameters for the phenomenological description of the smectic-{\it A} to smectic-{\it C} phase transition are formulated on the basis of molecular symmetry and structure. It is shown that, unless the long molecular axis is an axis of two-fold or higher rotational symmetry, the ordering of the molecules in the smectic-{\it C} phase gives rise to more than one tilt order parameter and to one or more polar order parameters. The latter describe the indigenous polarity of the smectic-{\it C} phase, which is not related to molecular chirality but underlies the appearance of spontaneous polarisation in chiral smectics. A phenomenological theory of the phase transition is formulated by means of a Landau expansion in two tilt order parameters (primary and secondary) and an indigenous polarity order parameter. The coupling among these order parameters determines the possibility of sign inversions in the temperature dependence of the spontaneous polarisation and of the helical pitch observed experimentally for some chiral smectic-{\it $C^{\ast}$} materials. The molecular interpretation of the inversion phenomena is examined in the light of the new formulation.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, RevTe

The Structure of TGBC_C Phases

We study the transition from the cholesteric phase to two TGB$_C$ phases near the upper critical twist $k_{c2}$: the Renn-Lubensky TGB$_C$ phase, with layer normal rotating in a plane perpendicular to the pitch axis, and the Bordeaux TGB$_C$ phase, with the layer normal rotating on a cone parallel to the pitch axis. We calculate properties, including order-parameter profiles, of both phases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to Physical Review E, Rapid Communications, September 5, 2003; Revised manuscript (to the paper submitted on March 18, 2003, cond-mat/0303365)that includes an important missing reference and presents an improved analysis of a generalized mode

Liquid crystal blue phases: stability, field effects and alignment

The blue phases are fascinating structures in liquid crystals, fluids that exhibit cubic structures that have true crystalline order. The blue phases were discovered in the 1970s and were the subject of extensive research in the 1980s, when a deep understanding of many of their properties was established. The discovery that the blue phases could be stabilised to exist over wide temperature ranges meant that they became more than scientific curiosities and led to a recent resurgence in research into them as they offer some promise in applications. This paper considers some important aspects of the blue phases that are recurrent topics in their research. It describes factors affecting blue phase stability, demonstrating on the role of the bend elastic constant; field effects, including the Kerr effect, electrostriction and relaxation phenomena; and alignment, in particular production and control of blue phase monodomains. The dependence of these phenomena on the physical properties of the liquid crystalline system, including the twist and bend elastic constants and the dielectric anisotropy, is emphasised wherever possible. The paper links work carried out in the 1980s with contemporary research, using a few key examples to show how there is still much to understand in this beautiful topic

Dynamical test of phase transition order

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Chiral nematic octasilsesquioxanes

The octasilsesquioxane cage has been successfully derivatised by platinum-catalysed hydrosilylation reaction of the alkene functionality of appropriate laterally substituted, chiral mesogenic moieties to yield monodisperse multipodal octamers. The liquid-crystalline silsesquioxanes were characterised by multinuclear MR, SEC, TGA, POM and X-ray diffractometry. The giant supermolecular materials display remarkably wide temperature range enantiotropic chiral nematic phases and glass transitions near to room temperature. One of the materials is iridescent and has properties similar to a low molar mass material even though it has a size approaching that of a small globular protein. Thus these observations raise questions as to whether the materials act as singular molecular entities or as spherical side chain polymers