Unique Pitch Evolution in the Smectic-C^* _alpha Phase

Z.Q. Liu (1) , B.K. Mccoy (1) , S.T. Wang (1) , R. Pindak (2) , W. Caliebe (2) , P. Barois (3) , P. Fernandes (3) , H.T. Nguyen (3) , C.S. Hsu (4) , S. Wang (1) , C.C. Huang (1)

1 School of Physics and Astronomy [Minneapolis]
2 NSLS - NSLS
3 CRPP - Centre de recherches Paul Pascal
4 Department of Applied Chemistry, Taiwan

Employing resonant x-ray diffraction, we observed unique pitch evolutions in the smectic-C phase in mixtures of two antiferroelectric liquid crystals. Our results show that the pitch in this phase continuously evolves across 4 layers, contradicting a theoretical model that predicts that the smectic-CFI2 phase intervenes in the smectic-C phase. The phase sequences we found can be explained by another model that includes one type of long-range interaction among smectic layers.

Mots clés: Smectic phase

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Z.Q. Liu, B.K. Mccoy, S.T. Wang, R. Pindak, W. Caliebe, et al.. Unique Pitch Evolution in the Smectic-C^* _alpha Phase. Physical Review Letters, 2007, 99 (077802), pp. 1-4. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.077802⟩. ⟨hal-00215928⟩