Racemic layer structure of the ferroelectric chiral bent-core liquid crystal

Abstract

The electrooptical properties of achiral bent-core materials have been studied extensively and it was found that the achiral molecules from chiral layer structure in the smectic B2 phase. Little attention, however, has been given to the properties of chiral bent-core mesogens. Herewe report the existence of ferroelectric phases in the chiral material P8OPIMB6 as probed by dielectric and optical second harmonic generation measurements. From optical microscope observation, we conclude that the layer structure of this phase is anticlinic in tilt and ferroelectric in polar order, i.e. the handedness of lhe layer chirality is observed to alternale from layer to layer.