Helical Structures of Smectic-A Liquid Crystal Doped with Cholesteryl Nonanoate

Abstract

Helical structures of smectic-A phase in an isotropic phase have been found in the mixture of octyloxycyano-biphenyl and dodecyl alcohol doped with cholesteryl nonanoate (CN). In the last few decades, various helical structures of chiral lipid bilayers have been found by many researchers [1]. These structures are made from twisting or rolling up of planar bilayer sheets around corners or edges. It is noted that the smectic-A helical filaments observed here are made from reeling up of tubes instead of rolling up of sheets. In this presentation structure and stability of the helical smectic-A filaments with CN are reported.