Nonchiral polar smectic liquid crystals formed by bent-core molecules: weak coupling regime

Tomaz Kranjc

doi:10.1117/12.461063

18 December 2002 Nonchiral polar smectic liquid crystals formed by bent-core molecules: weak coupling regime

Tomaz Kranjc

Proceedings Volume 4818, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing X; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461063
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2002, Seattle, WA, United States

Abstract

The structure and dynamic properties of achiral polar smectic liquid crystals formed by bow shaped molecules is considered and described by two two-dimensional order parameters, &vec;P and &vec;ξ. The first, polarization order parameter, gives the average projection of the arrow vectors on the smectic layer planes. The second, tilt order parameter, gives the average magnitude and direction of the tilt. To study the possible liquid crystal structures and their properties, a discrete phenomenological model taking into account the competing interactions between the nearest-neighbor smectic layers is used. The free energy of the system is expressed as a sum over smectic layers with terms modeling the appropriate intralayer and interlayer interactions and written only in terms of the arrow and the string order parameters. The free energy is then minimized in order to obtain stable structures and deduce their optical properties. There exist solutions for the case of strong coupling between the polarization and the tilt order parameters arising from attractive intralayer van der Waals and from steric interactions. In this contribution, we focus our attention to the case of weak coupling between the two order parameters and investigate possible structures and related optical properties of the system.

Citation Download Citation

Tomaz Kranjc "Nonchiral polar smectic liquid crystals formed by bent-core molecules: weak coupling regime", Proc. SPIE 4818, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing X, (18 December 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461063

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