Revealing the antipolar order in the antiferroelectric SmZ_A phase by means of circular alignment.

ABSTRACT: Many ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals, like one of the archetype materials, DIO, do not have a direct paraelectric N to ferroelectric N_F phase transition, but exhibit yet another phase between N and N_F. This phase has recently been proposed to be antiferroelectric, with a layered structure of alternating polarization normal to the average director and is sometimes referred to as Smectic Z_A (SmZ_A). We have examined the SmZ_A phase in circularly rubbed (CR) cells, known to discriminate between the polar N_F and the non-polar N phase from the configuration of disclination lines formed. We find that the ground state of SmZ_A has the same disclination configuration as the non-polar N phase, demonstrating that the SmZ

SUBMITTER: Nacke P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11217385 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature