Long-range interlayer interactions in ferroelectric liquid crystals

Some smectic liquid crystals exhibit a series of phases, including ferroelectric, antiferroelectric, and ferrielectric commensurate structures as well as an incommensurate phase. A long-standing problem has been to understand the origin of the long-range interaction responsible for this rich variety...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2004-10, Vol.93 (16), p.167801.1-167801.4, Article 167801
Main Authors: HAMANEH, M. B, TAYLOR, P. L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric and antiferroelectric materials
Dielectrics, piezoelectrics, and ferroelectrics and their properties
Exact sciences and technology
Liquids and liquid crystals
Liquids, emulsions, and suspensions
liquid crystals
Physics
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Summary:Some smectic liquid crystals exhibit a series of phases, including ferroelectric, antiferroelectric, and ferrielectric commensurate structures as well as an incommensurate phase. A long-standing problem has been to understand the origin of the long-range interaction responsible for this rich variety of phases. We study a model that incorporates thermal fluctuations in the flexing of layers and find that it supports commensurate and incommensurate structures. The vibrational entropy competes with an assumed helical interaction between nearest-neighbor layers. An increase in temperature then leads to an unwinding of the helix that proceeds at first through commensurate phases and then into an incommensurate phase. This result is consistent with the experimentally observed "distorted clock model."
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.167801