Solodkov, NV orcid.org/0000-0002-5120-1502, Nagaraj, M orcid.org/0000-0001-9713-1362 and Jones, JC orcid.org/0000-0002-2310-0800 (2018) Effects of monoclinic symmetry on the properties of biaxial liquid crystals. Physical Review E, 97 (4). 042702. ISSN 1539-3755
Abstract
Tilted smectic liquid crystal phases such as the smectic-C phase seen in calamitic liquid crystals are usually treated using the assumption of biaxial orthorhombic symmetry. However, the smectic-C phase has monoclinic symmetry, thereby allowing disassociation of the principal optic and dielectric axes based on symmetry and invariance principles. This is demonstrated here by comparing optical and dielectric measurements for two materials with highly first-order direct transitions from nematic to smectic-C phases. The results show a high difference between the orientations of the principal axes sets, which is interpreted as the existence of two distinct cone angles for optical and dielectric frequencies. Both materials exhibit an increasing degree of monoclinic behavior with decreasing temperature. Due to fast switching speeds, ferroelectric smectic-C* materials are important for fast modulators and LCoS devices, where the dielectric biaxiality influences device operation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018 American Physical Society. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Physics & Astronomy Visitors (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC EP/L015188/2 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 29 Mar 2018 10:40 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 21:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Physical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1103/PhysRevE.97.042702 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:129105 |